The Materia Hunter
by Drywater
Summary: In a forest. In a basement. In an amusement park. In a boat. In a plane. In a crater. The story of our journey. .:First person, Yuffie POV. Mild Yuffentine.:
1. The Materia Hunter

The Materia Hunter

Summary: Yuffie Kisaragi's narration of the story of Final Fantasy VII as she deals with every teenage mentality in the book alongside her eventual partner in crime, the ever morbid gunslinger, Vincent Valentine.

Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy VII.

* * *

I was sleeping. Really! It was my "self proclaimed day off." Until some random butthole with a great yellow spike growin' outta his head decided to come along and whop me upside the head with his big-ass sword. Jerkface. It's not like I attacked you or anything. Just because I threw something sharp at your crotch out of curiosity does NOT mean that we have to get violent, buddy! I was just happily skippin' along and goin' to get breakfast.. (shootin' up some lil birdies with my blowgun).. And then I spot this girly looking dude coming straight at me. Naturally, I am going to be curious as to whether or not this girly looking dude actually HAS any not-so-girly parts. Hence the throwing knife-action.

And then I get my ass kicked, nearly chopped off, and handed to me on a silver plate.

One.. two.. three. Spike and his buddies, I guess. A lady with the biggest honkers I've ever seen and a freaky great big red cat that talks. Yeah. Pretty normal morning.. I think I'll go steal all their cash now. That's what you get for picking a fight with ME, the Great Ninja Yuffie, jerks!

Yoink! Thank you very much and come again! Nyuk nyuk nyuk... They had more dinero on them than I thought. GOLD SAUCER, HERE-I-COMEEEE! Now to hide in this tree for a bit so I never have to see them again…

...Two hours later…

CRAP. They found me. So much for my strategic hide-in-a-tree scheme. Note to self: In the future, find better hiding spots. Like a carefully concealed underground lair. Gawd, that'd be so frickin' badass. Oh shoot, they're trying to kill me. Running away is not an option! Come on, Yuffie! CHAARRGEE!!!

Whoopsies. Got my ass handed to me again. GAWD, they have so much Materia. Let's tag along, shall we? Hahaha. Note to self: STEAL THEIR AWESOME MATERIA.

...Two more hours later...

Spike (I found out that his name is Cloud) left us in Junon. He keeps talking about "getting Sephiroth", and "saving the Planet". Sounds pretty deep to me. Hope I'm not in over my head. … Nah, I'm definitely not in over my head. I'll be making off with their shiny Materia soon, anyway. Meh. After a bit of bribing, we board an elevator to Upper Junon. Guess Spike wanted to play with the little girl and her dolphin longer. Gawd, that sounds weird.

Stupid Spike, he had to jump to Upper Junon on the dolphin, and we got to ride the elevator. When we got there, I DID raid a Materia store. It was really funny, there was this big fat guy runnin' the place, and I just swooped down while he wasn't looking, scooped up a box of Magic Materia and managed to conk him on the head with it as I swung back up to my place on a rafter. Hahaha! The look on his face was PRICELESS. Wish I had a camera! But afterwards, I had to stow away on this cargo ship that moved.... with water.. around it.. moving.. rocking.. burghh.. Barf city. GROSSNESS. Well anyway, we met this Sephiroth guy Spike keeps talkin' bout. He's freaky, he's wears all black, and he'd be pretty damn sexy (yes, I admit), if he chopped about twenty inches of hair off. Anyhow, he dropped this really gross hunk of flesh on the ground before he just.. disappeared. And the really gross hunk of flesh sorta bubbled (ew) and turned into this huge monster thingy that didn't seem to have joints. I thought it was kinda funny, cause when it cast Silence, (which didn't really work), it just sorta rose up a few inches and spun around. Heh heh. Yeah. Well, I kicked its ass, (of course), and we got outta there, AFTER finding this neat weapon, my Wind Slash, and this really yummy looking Summon called Ifrit.. Too bad Spike's using it. He gave me Shiva after he saved the little girl who owned the dolphin, though.

Well, now we're in SUNNY COSTA DEL SOL! Omigawd, I've always wanted to go here. There's another fat guy sellin Materia over there... and he's lookin' for a new employee.. Well, let's pretend to be a nice upstanding citizen and help him.. for now. Nyuk nyuk nyuk.

I sigh. Time to leave. Sucks. But we're headed for the Gold Saucer now, so that's cool. It's such a long walk there, though, and there are so many monsters.. They make me mad. Shouldn't they run away or something when they see me?! Great Ninja Thief Kisaragi here! HELLO!!! CAN YOU SPELL STUPID?

Stupid Spike. I walk all the way to the Gold Saucer, just for him. And then what? We get thrown into COREL PRISON, DAMN IT. Barret, Spike's friend with a gun for an arm seems to know somethin', and he's actin' strange. Oh. And we got this weird Mog/cat thing at Wonder Square. Calls itself Cait Sith. Why exactly this thing wanted to come with us, I shall never know.. It has a pretty shiny Transform Materia on it, though.. Tifa, (the lady with the boobs), Red XIII (the red cat), Cait Sith and I wait in this musty old house while the others go out to look for some guy to get us outta here. Gawd, this yucky old house is making me feel nauseous.. I HATE MUSTY OLD HOUSES. At least this one doesn't have monsters or spiders... hopefully. I had this AWFUL vision last night about this huge, dilapidated, saggy old mansion in this gloomy little town, and when I went in, there were spider webs and stuff, and these HUGE spiders, but I was stupid, and went DEEPER into the mansion, and went into the BASEMENT, which was even ickier, and I went into this one room off the side and it was full of all these freaky coffins and bones and SPIDER WEBS LIKE YOU WOULD NEVER BELIEVE! GROSSNESSSSS!!!! EW! This is exactly why I hate meditating. Stupid useless Godo and his stupid useless skills on "how to manipulate your inner energies". Gawd.

"Hey, all you people, get out. Mr. Strife needs you."

Finally, out of that yucky old place, straight into a brand new buggy. It's soo cool, it's red with these little gold bolt shapes on it. Or, it was cool. Until it broke right in front of Cosmo Canyon. I sigh. At least it wasn't in the middle of nowhere.

COME ON. First the fat dudes runnin' Materia shops, and now there's a SLEEPING dude! Well, can't complain. I'll just swipe a few of these... and yoink! Mission complete. Pitifully easy. Cosmo Canyon is really kinda corny. Red XIII (we found his real name is Nanaki), is from here. GAWD, I'm bored. Maybe I'll just go sleep in the inn for a while.

And now it's time to go. Guess I slept through everything that happened. Totally lost. Nanaki keeps talking about his father, Cloud was scared Nanaki was gonna leave, and Nanaki's grandpa, (he's weird.. he floats.), was encouraging him to go with us, and.. I really don't get it. I sigh again. At least the buggy's fixed.

Spike said that we're gonna skip Gongaga. I don't really care. But he says that we're goin' to his old hometown, Nibelheim, next. Great, huge flashbacks, here we come.. We ford the river in the repaired buggy and drive for about an hour or so until we come upon this gloomy little town. This must be Nibelheim.

Oh-my-GAWD. Can't help but not let my eyes pop out of their sockets on this one. That yucky old mansion from my vision is IN THIS TOWN. I think I'm gonna be sick... Cause Spike wants to go inspect it. And he says I hafta go with him. Why me?! I do NOT want to go in that icky, spider-infested house. Suddenly, he grabs hold of me and drags me through the front door. Yes, of course I'm screaming as loud as I can! I'm scared!

It's worse in real life. I was scared I was gonna fall out of my skin or something. Something about that place FREAKS ME OUT! But we found all these clues in a box left by some mad scientist, and so now we're on a treasure hunt in this hellhole full of spiders. How did someone LIVE HERE once!? Ugh. Anyhoo, we found all the numbers for the safe. But when Spike opened it, voila! A giant purple/red dancing monkey-thing attacks us! And so, I-kick-its-ass. Hahaha. I am SO good. Swiped some pretty good materia from that safe, too, before Spike noticed it. Odin. Summon. Trying not to get drool on it... Yeah. Well, there was this key, and so we picked it up and the tag said "Basement Key." Shit. ShitshitshitshitSHIT! No basement for Yuffie-chan, no way in HELL! Spike'll hafta throw me down those stairs to get me down there!

Ya know... spiral staircases make ya dizzy when ya fall down em... I see black fuzzies, and they're very, very cute... Dreidel, Dreidel, Dreidel, and Dreidel I shall PL-AAAYYY.... moogley.... ow! MY ASS! STUPID BAT!! I came to senses after that STUPID BAT BIT MY ASS!! RAWR! I nearly tear it to bits with my teeth. Serves it right. Ah.. The door. THE door. To THE room. With THE bones, and THE skulls, and THE creepy coffins. Thank god it's locked.

Wait.

HOLD IT! That key, the safe.

SHIIIIIIIIIIIITTTTTT! No, ya stupid spikey jerk! DON'T OPEN IT!

Voila. I see black fuzzies...... and they're very, very cute...

The cover of the middle coffin comes off and WHOMP. I keel over on the spot. Damn Spike. Thought I told ya not to open the door...

I hear voooiiiiiiiceeeeesssssss....

"You know Sephiroth?"

"Good night."

What is you name?"

"My name is Vincent."

Footsteps.. Wah.. They're gonna just leave me here with a creepy guy who lives in a coffin. HE'S GONNA SUCK MY BLOOD.. Hey, wait, I'm conscious.

"Are you alright?"

I peel myself off the floor and look up into a pair of eyes."

Blood red ones, to be exact. They blink at me, almost innocently. I think I'm gonna have a heart attack. Don't wanna die... He's gonna suck my blood! He really is a vampire! He even looks like one!

Black.... and fuzzy.... and very, very cute....

Flop. There I go. He's really gonna suck my blood. Last thing I see is his creepy face. Red eyes, black hair, a complete contrast to his paper-white face.

"V-vampire..!!!"

"..."

Agh! Where the hell am I?! I see.. dark! Dark! And it's cool and dry.. Ah. A hotel room. Hey.. A HOTEL ROOM! WHAT AM I DOING IN A HOTEL ROOM??? AUGH!

"You are awake." A monotone voice emanates from the corner of the room, sending a quick shiver down my spine. I reached for the lamp at the bedside and go to flip it on when my hand stops. Freaky long-ass fingers are clamped around my wrist. Ew. Eek! The monotone voice is very close now, right by me, in fact.

"Go to sleep. The others will rest for about four more hours. There is no reason for you to be awake at this hour."

I stare at the darkness, trying to figure out who was in the room with me. It obviously isn't Spike. Racking my cloudy brain, I root around for something. Shreds of memories start flooding back, making my head hurt as if a Tonberry was attacking me.

_"Are you alright?" _The soft, deep voice of a man speaks softly in my memory, no change in pitch.

"V-vampire...!!"

Can't remember anything else. ... OMIGAWD, THERE'S A FRICKIN VAMPIRE IN THE ROOM.

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!!!!!!!!!"

Bam. The door opens with a bang as Spike runs in, hair messy from sleep. The room is suddenly filled with light, and I blink. Never have I been SO-DAMN-GLAD to see that spikey-headed jerk in my entire life.

"What's the matter, Yuffie?"

I look at Spike, eyes round as saucers. "H-HE'S GONNA SUCK MY BLOOD!!!!" I screech, diving under the covers in an attempt to protect myself. The man, who I'd not gotten a good look at yet, stares ahead blankly, nothing showing on his pale features. Hahaha, I almost sounded like a writer there, didn't I? Hahaha.

Cloud just gapes at me, the lump in the bed. "What are you talking about?" he says, oblivious. "Vincent's not a vampire..."

I poke my head out. "Nyehhhh. What would YOU do if you woke up suddenly after being unconscious in a strange hotel room with a man you've never met before, grabbing you by the wrist and telling you to sleep?" Shooting a look at the unresponsive, vampiric man, I observe him for a second.

He's not bad looking, if I do say so myself. That claw is pretty damn hot... Here's a list of alllllll the descriptions I have for him.

He has long black hair, tamed by a crimson headband.

He wears a matching cloak, which is buckled at the top to conceal the bottom of his face. Argh.

Black clothes underneath. Prolly even black underwear. Boxers... or briefs? Hrmm...

Pointy boots. How the hell does he walk in those? They have metal on them! They don't bend! Does he fly?

Omigawd, his eyes are RED. Not brown-red, like Tifa's, but RED. Like, blood colored. Freaky. And his skin is the color of my mother's wedding kimono. Stark white. Almost pearly. Freaky, and ew. This guy needs to go to Costa Del Sol...... permanently.

Yeah, he's a little weird looking… and kinda hot, too. And he's a got a GUN. A handgun, or somethin.. And it has MATERIA in it.. Materia... mmm... Maybe I'll be nice to this guy..

"Hiya!" I squeal, suddenly enthusiastic. Cloud leaves the room as I bound over to the vampire-man. "I'm Yuffie! You're Vincent, right? Mind if I call ya Vinnie? Vince? Vin? Vincey? V?" The guy just stares over his collar at me, silent. It's like, he's scanning me for viruses, and I'm a computer.

"A pleasure, Yuffie," says Vincent softly, barely audible. He bows his head, formal. "Yes, my name is Vincent. You may call me that."

"Hey, yeahhh.. Where are we?"

"We are in the Nibelheim Inn."

I sigh, shaking my head. "You don't talk much. C'mon, sit with me." I walk over and sit, then pat the spot next to me. "We can talk about.... ah. Hee hee hee. Materia!! I love Materia, don't you? Isn't it cool? What kind of Materia do YOU have?"

Wordless, Vincent sits next to me on the bed. Strange. Wasn't really expecting him to. Anyhoo, he pulls out his gun. Not to KILL ME, stupid (though I'm sure it crossed his mind), but to inspect the magic orbs inside.

"Barrier, Restore, Lightning."

I notice an empty slot in his weapon, and I point to it. "Won't you fill that one?" I ask, cocking my head to the side. For some reason, I'm starting to feel a slight bond between the two of us.

"No, I have no need to." I shake my head at this. One can never have too much Materia! Feeling EXTREMELY generous, I dig out a small drawstring bag of Materia from my shorts. Searching the orbs, I find the red Odin summon from earlier. With a great sigh, I hand over the summon to the gunslinger.

"That's Odin. Found it while we were getting the key to open your door. Use it, kay?" In silent response, he slips the red sphere into the remaining slot.

"Thank you, Yuffie."

GAWD, I feel weird right now. Why the hell do my legs feel like jelly? And am I.. blushing? GAWD!! WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME? I fling myself onto the pillows and notice Vincent looking at me, perplexed.

"Night, Vinnie."

Needless to say, he shudders ever so slightly. Yuffie-chan's infamous nicknames can do that to you. I remember when I used to call Godo "Goldfishie" after the fish living in his pond. After I'd called him that at one of formal ceremonies to renew his status, he never managed to live that down... Hahaha. But he forbade me to ever use that name again. I sigh. Silly old man.

"…..zzzz….. mmph..?" I crack an eyelid to see Vincent rising from his spot on my bed. He pulls the covers over me and moves to the other bed. Well, maybe he isn't so creepy.. My shin feels slightly warm from the place on the blanket that Vincent had been sitting on. Just like my dad used to do… back when he was nice.

The next morning, I feel something cold on my shoulder, shaking it gently. Hmm. Whoever the owner is must not know I'm a morning person. Well, I open my eyes and see…

A tarnished brass claw on my shoulder.

I jump slightly in fright, not used to seeing Vincent's prosthetic yet.

"Are you awake?"

"Mmph.."

"Good. Cloud says to meet at the edge of town by the entrance to the Nibel Mountains in half an hour."

"Kay…" I rub my eyes, blurry with sleep, and sit up. "Hey Vinnie?"

He shuddered again, though not noticeably. "?"

"Why couldn't I have shared with Tifa? I mean, not to be rude or anythin'… but she's a girl, and you're… not. Well, unless there's somethin' you're not tellin' me…" I stretch my right arm, then my left, and repeat.

"The rooms in this inn have maximums of two beds, so Tifa is with Aeris, Nanaki and Cait Sith roomed together, Cloud and Barret as well, so naturally that left us. And since I was in charge of carrying you back after you collapsed, Cloud said it would be alright."

"..oh. Vinnie, what happened yesterday? I collapsed, but I don't remember.." I shove the covers aside and stand up, already dressed for the day. Sleeping in my clothes is normal for me. It's one less thing to do in the morning. Vincent pauses and looks at me, those unnerving red irises boring into my skull, like they're trying to find whether or not I'm "worthy".

"You blacked out at my feet inside the Mansion. Since you involuntarily… drooled in your sleep, the others left you with me."

I blush now, even darker than last night.. "Errr, sorry bout that, Vinnie.."

"I don't mind."

I turn even redder. How the hell does he DO that??? I mean, I'm a LEGEND! The GREAT MATERIA HUNTER YUFFIE KISARAGI!! FEAR MY WRATH! But nooo, Mr. Vampire Freaky-Ass has to come along and stab me through the heart with his sexy metal claw and hot one-pitched voice that says those three words to me..

No, not "I love you", idiot. "I don't mind." The hell is that supposed to do??? NOT turn me on! Grrr… This guy is pissing me off… I slam the door to the bathroom irritably. Yuffie Kisaragi is not a morning person, even to hot vampire men.

Okay, it's official. Mt. Nibel is freaky. Especially without Spike around to swing his big ass sword at all the enemies. He left me with Vinnie so Tifa and Aeris could get some more battle experience. Ha. Hahaha. No, Cloudy-boy, Yuffie, ultimate psychic reader and all around perfect hot model can see RIGHT through you. Getting popular with the ladies, huh? Well, not working. I SAW Tifa eyein' Vinnie before we left. Well, well. HE'S MINE. MINEEEEE!!!! ALL THE MATERIA IS MINEEEE!!!!!! MUWAHAHAHA!!!

Sorry. I didn't realize the toast had mass amounts of caffeine in it. Toast usually doesn't.. Note to self: avoid hotel toast and go for the pancakes.

Anyhoo, maybe Tifa does like Spike. They're were "childhood friends", and they're "soooo cute!!" as said by Aeris. Though, I know that she's secretly in love with him, too. Guess there's no room for me in there. A love triangle's not a triangle if there's four people. Then, it's a square. And squares made of love are… scary. Well, once upon a time (last week), I thought Spike's little muscles and spikey blondness were kinda hot..

But, no.

"Yuffie, please keep up with me. Cloud requested that we leave the mountains by tomorrow's nightfall."

Damn Vinnie and his long legs… How tall IS he? Six feet maybe? And I'm… five foot two. Ooh. I feel "petite". That's what my mom always called me, saying I was lucky to not have to watch what I eat or worry about my figure. Not that she was bad looking, though. My mom was the prettiest woman in all of Wutai. That's what I believed until I saw her face, covered in cold sweat, white, dead. My brother was never alive, and he took my mother with him. Sighing, I run to catch up. I guess I hafta be grateful; at least I'm not listening to Barret cursing with every step, or Cait Sith daring me to try his slots in that tinny voice of his.

"Ooh, this is SO COOL!!" I jump up and down, twirl, and then pose. I've never seen a natural Materia fountain before.

"We'll camp here for the night."

My head jerks up from the crystal thingy I was inspecting. Elemental materia. "Really? Ohmygawd, Vinnie, I love you, this is so cool."

Silence. The bird in the corner chirps annoyingly. Weird urges to pull out blowgun…

"Very well." Vincent gathers some loose kindling lying around, and the green Materia glow surrounds him as he pulls out his gun.

"Bolt." Monotone, as always. A strand of lightning flashes down at Vincent's command, setting the wood alight. When he turns away from me, I grab the Elemental Materia from the fountain. Hey, what he doesn't know can't hurt him.

"Hey Vinnie?" I turn the makeshift pot holding the bird around. Yes, the bird from the corner.

"?"

"Why were you sleeping in a coffin in the basement of a creepy house?" I ask as bluntly as possible. I try to match his unemotional gaze as I look at him, unblinking. Heh, I'm pretty good at this.

"To atone for my sins, this is the best I can do."

"… huh?"

…..zzzzz…..

Someone's shaking me. Man, if I could ever get my hands on their neck….

"Yuffie, wake up."

"mmph… shuddup….."

"Cloud said that we have to meet on the other side by daybreak."

"finee….. I'm up…"

"Come." Someone puts a hand on my shoulder. Wow.. They have long fingers. They put their other hand on my shoulder and pull me to my feet, barely supporting me as my legs threaten to collapse like jelly.

Wait, that's not a hand.

"Mornin' Vinnie…"

I stumble after the blur of crimson in front of me, yawning and rubbing my eyes as I go. A few minutes later, a huge metal building comes into view. At that moment, I decide to wake up.

"Wow, what is that?"

Vincent gives me a scrutinizing glance before he responds.

"That is the Mt. Nibel Mako reactor."

Wow. Now that I think about it, this is the first time I've actually seen a Mako reactor. My dad always told me that they were pieces of junk that always broke, providing people with barely adequate and smelly energy. So, we never had one in Wutai. I never imagined they'd be so frickin' huge! But Vincent didn't even look at it… And we're not going in, so I guess it doesn't matter. Still.. just.. wow.

Weird. There's a door in the side of the mountain.

Now it gets even weirder! There are all these TUBES, and they all have numbers. AND they're all yucky and dirty and smelly with this green goo dripping off of them.. Hope we don't hafta touch 'em or anything..

FWOOP!

Oh, GAWD!! Vinnie just went IN one of them… ooo, this is so gross…

"Vinnie?" I yell into the tube he went into. It's black in there.. and gooey. Double super outrageous GROSSNESS!!

A voice floats up from the lower level. "The pipe leads to the lower level, where we may exit the cavern. We are to meet Cloud and the others there."

"Oh, so I hafta…. slide down this gross, disgusting thing???"

I hear Vincent sigh slightly, barely audible. "Yes, I am afraid so. Hurry."

Sticking a toe warily into the mucky pipe, I realize that the green gloppy stuff in glowing ever so slightly. Triple, no QUADRUPLE ew. It's all sticky, and some parts are crusty…

"Yuffie, we haven't time for this. Please just go down the pipe."

I screw my eyes shut, close my mouth tightly and dive into the pipe. A whoosh of air rushes past as I slide, and my eyes pop open to receive the breeze. Gooey stuff splatters my face. This is so so so so gross… The next town BETTER have a good dry cleaner or laundromat, or SOMETHING!!!

"Oof." Of course, I have to have landed on my face.. And there's something cold on my cheek. Upon examination, it is… gold, pointy, divided into sections..

Whoops.. I landed on Vincent's foot.

"You okay?" A human hand pulls me to my feet, and some green goo drips off of my shirt, landing on the concrete with a "plop".

"Yah. Ew, gross!! What the heck IS this stuff? GROSSNESS!!!"

Vincent pulled a clump of the stuff out of my hair as he spoke. "This is a waste product produced by the Mako reactor."

Oh. Great. And here I thought it might have possibly been something nice, like candy…

Numbly, I follow Vincent, wiping crap out of my eyes all the way. "Man, I can't see… It got in my eyes. I closed my eyes, too! Oh, gross…."

Vincent whirls around to face me. "It got in your eyes?!"

"Yeah, and it.. gah. It isn't coming out! Argh…. AH!"

Vincent thrusts out a hand and pushes my right shoulder down, making me fall backwards onto my "delicate hindquarters".

"What the heck was that for??"

"Stay still, or it will spread and you will not be able to see."

"You mean I'm gonna go BLIND?!?"

"Stop moving." Vincent's voice sounds monotone, yet I can sense a desperation lacing it that I hadn't noticed before. Water pours into my eyes, flushing out some of the green. I barely see him digging out an Eye Drop before the stinging starts. I let out a cry and slap a hand to my face. Immediately, the hand is dragged away as the eye drops are put in.

Though the stinging disappears, everything's so green… and hazy..

More water.

A few panicked minutes later, I blink slowly, and my vision swims back.

"Vinnie?"

Almost roughly, he grabs my arm and drags me to a standing position. "You can see alright?"

I blink again, getting things back into focus. "Yeah… I think so."

"Fine, let's go."

I don't even have the time to ask before Vincent leads me by the hand toward the exit. I can't believe it; Vincent just saved my sight! … Huh. That was random.

"shit.." Vincent muttered under his breath, pulling out the Peacemaker.

Wow, someone's a potty mouth.

"A Materia Keeper. Watch out."

This big, blue, spidery thingy climbs out from behind some rock. And it has a beak. Weird.

"Materia Keeper, eh? Does it…. uh.. keep Materia?" Can't help myself from licking my lips here. I can just see what kinds of awesome Materia I'll be able to swipe…. and all the stuff I'll…. I mean, we'll get from winning…

"No. It's just the name of this beast. Be alert, for we must fight."

Aw, darnit. "Gah!" I yell, tugging out a shuriken from the holder on my back. "If you don't have any Materia, why the heck are you called a Materia Keeper??" A little disappointed as the mountain of colored orbs disappear from my mind, I throw the spiked ring at the freakish blue spider. However, it doesn't return like it usually does.

With a resounding "clang", the shuriken falls from the creature's flesh to the floor, which is at least fifteen feet away and right below the spider's armored stomach. My eyes widen as the monster charges, angry, right for me, beak outstretched. Without my weapon to deflect or counter, I'm finished…

"Oh, hell…" I think, cringing together, preparing for the blow.

However, it never comes.

Another loud "clang" reverberates off the walls of the cavern as horn hits metal. I open one eye for a peek, then both in surprise. Vincent is braced in front of me, his brass prosthetic wrenched in the grasp of the monster's sharp beak.

He turns his head to me and speaks, slightly pained. "Retrieve your weapon." Without even a nod, I sprint and take my shuriken off the ground. As I turn around, an awful sight fills my newly renewed sight.

Electricity courses through Vincent's body, his arm still attached to the beak of the monster. I recognize this attack. It used to be used a crime punishment in Wutai.

The beast was using Trine on Vincent!

"No!" I scream, anguished. Flinging my weapon desperately, I rush toward the scene. Two steps away, my shuriken returns like it's supposed to, and I catch it, expertly flinging it back again. The electricity stops its course, and Vincent slumps over, unresponsive. Almost in slow motion, I watch as the Materia Keeper slams its horn into his stomach, again, and again, and again…

An ethereal silence sweeps overhead, and I find that I can't move. Everything in front of me seems unreal, like I'm reading it out of a storybook. Then suddenly, a knight on a horse descends gracefully from above, a glinting steel sword in hand. The horse gallops past, and its rider attacks the beast, then disappears in a flash of steel.

And now it's real again. The Materia Keeper lies in a lump of disconnected flesh on the cold concrete of the floor. Vincent lies a few feet away, a bloody gash in his stomach. However, he remains conscious, which I find really weird.. Though I'm not tired, I can barely find the strength to go to him.

"You okay… Vinnie?"

"Yes." Still monotone!! And calm as a rock. This guy is absolutely bizarre…

He stands up and helps me to my feet, acting as though he is oblivious to the hole in his middle. "We should leave quickly. Cloud and the others are probably waiting outside."

Almost on cue, the PHS rings, and I answer it.

"Yah?"

"It's Cloud."

"Hey, Spike. Whassup?"

"We've been waiting forever! Hurry up!"

"Yeah, yeah.." I decide to fool around a bit. "But I just don't _feel_ like it.. Can you wait a couple hours, maybe?"

"Yuffie…." He sounds angry. "just get your butt out here, please. Vincent's with you, right? You guys okay?"

I become serious. "I'm okay, but Vinnie's pretty beat up from a fight we had with a Materia Keeper. We'll be right out." With a 'beep', I hung up the PHS and stuffed it back into my shorts pocket.

"Let's get out of here."

Vincent nods. We exit the cavern room and follow the twisting path back out onto the grassy area outside. Tifa waves at us, and I wave back. Something's up with Vincent, though. There's a FRICKIN' HOLE IN HIS STOMACH!! And he's walking and acting normal.. well, normal for Vinnie. What exactly IS this guy?

* * *

This story has been written over a span of several years. Looking back at these beginning chapters, I can see that they need much improvement. At some point, I'll probably just rewrite them entirely. However, this small editing job will have to suffice for now. Even if you disliked this first chapter for its sloppiness and the dispositions of the characters, I invite you to read on. I feel that it improves significantly over the course of the story.


	2. The Town With The Fungal Rocket

And here we are! The second chapter of Miss Yuffie Kisaragi's saga as a super warrior ninja thief!

Note: This is an edit of the original draft of this chapter. Please notify me of any mistakes you find.

Disclaimer: I dun own Final Fantasy VII. I like to play it, though.

* * *

The Materia Hunter: Second Chapter: The Town With the Fungal Rocket

* * *

Well, here we are. We came across this plain little town outside Mt. Nibel called Rocket Town. It's pretty obvious how this place got its name; cause there's this huge space shuttle… I dunno.. I guess you might say it's _parked _right in the middle of this town. It's all rusty and tilting.. And it's green. Bottle green. I think it's moldy…

"You there, sonny.. Want to look at the rocket with me?" An old man standing by one of the shops gestures towards Cloud, a kindly grin on his face, wrinkled with age. "I love this rocket. The Shinra No. 26. Even though they quit the space program, Shinra hasn't removed the rocket. So, it remains here, tilting like it does." He shades his eyes as Cloud stands quietly beside him, listening to the elder's words and looking up at the green rocket. I can tell that Spike isn't too interested in this stuff. But as he turns away, the old man stops him again.

"Here, sonny. Take this. I wish you'd take care of it and use it…"

Cloud takes the sword from the man's hands and looks it up and down. "Thank you, sir," he says, bowing his head slightly before heading back to where we're waiting.

"Mind you, boy, it's got a good blade!" calls the old rocket enthusiast. "The Yoshiyuki is its name. Use it well."

"Thank you!"

Spike looks at us, and I can see the obvious befuddlement in his face. _How senile is he?_ his eyes almost seem to ask as he holds the sword nonchalantly, trying to make it seem like he gets plucked off the street every day to look at rockets, then given swords as rewards.

"Well.." he begins, looking around at each of us. "You guys can go and relax in the inn or whatever while I hunt around for some clues to Sephiroth's whereabouts. We'll get outta here tomorrow morning. Mosey!"

"What the hell does "mosey mean"?"

"Mosey…?"

"Umm, Cloud? Mosey…?"

Cloud blushed and cleared his throat. "Move out!"

What exactly DOES "mosey" mean, anyhow? I mean, sure it's another word for "meandering" or "wandering", but not for "move out"… What a weirdo. Anyway, as I head towards the inn, I notice Aeris walking behind me."

"Aeris?" I ask, wondering why she wasn't following Cloud around. Smiling slyly, I lean against a pole. "Dontcha wanna be with your _bodyguard_?" She blushes like a little girl with a crush.

"No, I actually wanted to ask you something." It was her turn to look sly. "So, what do you think of Vincent? He's pretty quiet, isn't he?"

I pause. "That's random," I say bluntly, walking through the inn door, Aeris up beside me. "Why are you asking that?"

She giggles. "Oh, well, it's quite a story. Cloud was really pretty worried about you the other night, as it was Vincent who you were sharing a room with. And we don't know Vincent very well yet." Aeris shifts her braid as she speaks. She giggles again. Man, is this girl ever NOT bubbly? She's older than Tifa, but she definitely doesn't look or act like it. It's like, we could be best friends even though I haven't known her that long or gotten a chance to have a real conversation with her. I guess she has a gift for that…

"You know, Tifa thought he was "attractive"." The girl makes quote marks with her fingers as she says the word "attractive". "I'd watch out if I were you, Yuffs. Tifa's pretty good at getting what she wants. Plus, she's great! So..-" she says with a wink, "-watch out for your man."

Plum is probably the most accurate color to describe my face at this moment.

"H-he's not my, uh, wha.. well… he's not.."

Stutter, stutter, stutter. I'm so bad at this. The little chibi Yuffie in my head lets out a sob.

"Hey, yeah, can we get…" Aeris counts on her fingers for the number of rooms we need. "umm.. four rooms with two beds each, please?"

My eyes widen immediately. Ooh.. Aeris, I am ONTO YOUR PLAN. I lean over to hiss into her ear.

"You had BETTER be making Tifa share with him this time."

She blinks at me innocently. "Why, share with who, Yuffs?"

I grimace. "You KNOW who, Aeris."

She giggles quite loudly this time, startling the innkeeper, who had her back turned as she searched for keys. "Well, it IS our best arrangement.. Cloud and Barret can share, and Nanaki with Cait.. then me and Tifa always share so we can stay up and gossip, and you and 'Vinnie' share cause you two get along, AND you both _belong together._"

I shudder at the thought, and the chibi within shudders too, making my head spin. "M-maybe I'll come over and gossip too, for tonight."

I SWEAR, SHE HAS A MACHINE IN HER POCKET THAT GIGGLES WHEN SHE PRESSES A BUTTON.

"Sure, Yuffs."

The clerk hands Aeris four sets of keys. "Have a nice stay!"

"Thank you, we will!"

That evening….

I sit at the dinner table, my gigantic dinner of an entire chicken potpie down the hatch and gurgling somewhere in my digestive tract. Everyone finishes eating, and all eyes are on Cloud to learn anything he found.

"I spoke to a woman in the north side of town today. She's an engineer, and her name is Shera. She lives with a man named Cid, who she calls the Captain. Shera said that we might be able to get some information from him tomorrow because he took his plane out today and won't be back until early the next day. So, we should go over there at about nine in the morning. Make sure you've eaten and whatnot." And with a face-splitting yawn, Spike bids us good night.

I have to be quiet now. So, shh! I hush up my inner chibi, who was squeaking rather annoyingly, and creep into Aeris and Tifa's room. Hiding under one of the beds, I manage to see through a sliver of space between the floor and the bedspread. And then…

I hear the giggling. They're coming.

"- and so, she was trying to act completely oblivious, but I just know they should be together.." Aeris' voice.

"Have either of you seen Yuffie?" Vincent's voice breaks the girlish laughter. A blush creeps up onto my face. What the hell am I turning red for? He can't even see me…

Aeris looks at Tifa, confused. "No, I haven't seen her, but she said that she was going to come by later so we could have a girl chat." Vincent raises an eyebrow.

"Fine, thank you. Good night, Aeris, Tifa."

"Night, Vincent!"

The door closes.

More giggling. "Okay, Yuffie, we know you're in here. You can come out."

I twitch. "No I'm not," I protest, scowling. "I'm in my room."

"Then why is your voice coming from beneath the bed?" Tifa taps one of my fingers.

Oh, shoot! My hand was sticking out from beneath the bedspread the ENTIRE TIME!

"Oh, darnit." Defeated, I crawl out from under the bed. "So what now?"

Tifa grinned. "Vincent was looking for you."

I blush. DAMN THESE BLOOD VESSELS! "I know, I heard." Trying to be as grim as possible, I attempt to rid my face of blood."

"Maybe you should go check in with him. The rooms are connected, so you can go through that door."

"You're gonna listen, aren't ya?"

"Yup!"

"…."

"Go on!"

"Ooo, I hate you, ya know that?"

Oh GAWD, they're giggling in unison. And…. The chibi explodes. Well, that's the end of the incessant squeaking…

So then….

"Hey, Vinnie…!" I whisper-scream at the dark figure on the bed, and flip on the lights.

…… Uh oh..

I scream. And it's not just a whisper-scream this time, either.

A thump resounds from the wall as Tifa and Aeris both jump about ten feet in the air on the other side.

Vincent, still sitting on the bed, raises an eyebrow. "What are you shouting about?"

Oh, oh, oh, oh, I so did not expect to walk in on him shirtless…. Man, that guy has been doing some serious sit-ups…. But…. it's scary. He's like a skeleton with muscle and white skin over all.

"Vinnie, we need to fatten you up!"

Whoa. He actually looks tired. And I thought he was _infatigable_.

"I'm going to go take a shower." With that, he grabs a towel and heads off to the bathroom, shutting the door with a gentle 'click'. His shirt and cloak lay abandoned on the now empty bed. Strangely curious, I creep over to them and poke at one of the buckles warily. I wonder if he keeps weird things in there.. like baby monsters. Oooh…. that's scary. As I prod the heavy material again, a folded sheet of paper flutters out of the cloak and falls to the floor. I pick it up. It's slightly yellowed with age, and the folds are torn at the edges from being opened and closed so many times before. As delicately as possible, I unfold the paper and begin to read.

_My dearest Vincent,_

_I am sure that you have been wondering lately as to why I haven't given you… an answer as of yet. I am very sorry about this, but Hojo has had me working especially hard lately. But last night, I was thinking about you. And, I was also thinking about some things pertaining to work that I must think about. Please understand, Vincent. If I marry, that surely means that I will be excluded from the Jenova Project. Hojo truly has no time for sentimentalities… _

I stare at the note, mouth slightly agape. Is Vincent.. married? A guilty feeling washes over me, and I suddenly am afraid that I've infringed on something seriously above me. So, I stuff the note back where I found it and slam the door leading to the other room as I leave.

"You okay, Yuffie?"

My heart is throbbing, and I don't know why. My breath is short like I've just run a marathon.

"You look like you've seen a ghost!"

"H-hey, guys?" I begin, sitting on a bed. "Is Vincent married?"

"WHAT?"

I blink, waiting for an explanation. I'm expecting a rather good one.. Someone's keeping something from me!

"Well, I don't think so," says Aeris gently. "And if so, she's probably given up on her husband being alive.. or dead herself.

"What do you mean?"

Aeris cocked her head to the side a bit. "What do you mean, "what do you mean"? Vincent was locked in that coffin for forty years!"

Wow. That's a long time to be locked in a box…

"So.. like.. how did he get air?"

"Oh, YUFFIE!"

Soo… I went to bed early that night. Hehehehe… GAWD, you can go to bed, but this bed is all itchy and scratchy and worn.. so you can't actually SLEEP. I hate inn beds… They're never comfy. I never sleep in a bed, anyway.. Futons are better. OH MY GAWD, I HATE THIS.

Toss. Turn. Toss. Turn.

A voice from the windowsill floats over.

"Can't you sleep..?"

OMIGAWD, THAT FRICKIN' SCARED THE LIVIN' DAYLIGHTS OUTTA ME. So I'll just try to regain my composure and answer him politely like a good little girl…

"Do you THINK I'd be rolling around like a mid-coital alligator over here if I was SLEEPING?" There.

No response.

"Why are you over there, anyway? You don't sleep in beds?"

"I'm not tired."

Sigh. What a weird guy.. But I guess I'm not really tired either.. God, why the heck is the AC cranked up so high… I'll just untuck this.. and voila. So now, like in those sappy Wutaian dramas my dad used to watch, I wrap up in the blanket like this…. and walk over to the man in the windowsill..

"Go to sleep, Yuffie. There is a long day waiting ahead."

"Hypocrite! And, I'm not tired! Yuffie-chan is a big girl! She knows when she doesn't need sleep!" I snap at him, a little harsher than I meant. Oops. Wah, who cares. I sit with him on the windowsill, anyway. This thing is huge.. like the ones in those old Junonian homes with all the weird clawed furniture.. I remember my dad toured one once and brought pictures back home to show to me and my mom. I was really little, but I remember seeing a windowsill like this one in it. Funny I'd be reliving the memories of such a beautiful old home in this yucky cheap inn… Hmm.. speaking of old things..

"So, you wanna tell me exactly why you lived in a coffin for forty years?"

"I'd... prefer not to."

Man, what a stiff..

"Fine, be that way. I'll just hafta ask Tifa in the morning."

Silence. You can see the moon really well from this window… It's sooo bright. Guess it's 'cause there's a full moon tonight. Hmm.. I think Vinnie shut himself off for the night.

"Is this room too cold for you?"

Whoa… he just spoke.. Guess Mister Robot didn't shut himself down for the night, after all.

"No kidding! My nose is becoming a snot-sicle!"

A clunking sound announces the shutting off of the air conditioner. Thank-GAWD! Time to get rid of this blanket..

"Is this more comfortable for you?"

"?"

Oh my god… I just realized I hadn't gotten a good look at his whole face yet. In the light from the moon, he looks SO PALE! But.. without that severe collar slicing off half his face, he looks… serene, I guess. Calm. I guess that's good. He looks hot like that…

Eep. Sure, he's good looking… but he probably in his sixties! Ew, ew, ew! GROSS! How the HELL did this guy age so well?

I stand up and survey the man before me. He sits on the sill, eyes focused somewhere out the window, deathly pale skin covered by his black clothing. His legs, bent at the knees, rest against the wall below the window. Gawd, I wish I had a camera.. He's absolutely gorgeous.

"G'night, Vinnie."

"Good night, Yuffie."

Completely on some weird impulse, I reach out and give him a quick hug. Nothing special, just like a hug I'd give to my dad, (before he became mean and nasty), as I'd go to bed. But a hug all the same. I feel him tense up in my arms, a strange hostility filling him. He obviously didn't expect the embrace, and didn't want it. And, I'm sure he didn't appreciate it. He isn't saying anything, though… Just staring at something outside.

Okaaaay, then..

Toss. Turn. Toss. Turn.

"AGHHHHHHH!" Ohmygawd, BRIGHT! "PULL THE STUPID CURTAINS, YOU EVIL VAMPIRE MAN!"

Oops! I said that out loud..!

There is another thump from the other side of the wall, signifying the surprise of the room's inhabitants. Ah, there we go. They're giggling again. Back to normal.

Nothing from the evil vampire man.

Well, I'll skip through breakfast and go right on about Shera and the Captain. Seems the Captain's name is Cid and he has a textbook case of "&ing $ith", also known as trying to get through life by cursing the crap outta everything that moves… and some things that don't. I swear, he says the F word on average of sixteen times per minute. I've been keeping track. AND, he isn't exactly too keen on us borrowing his plane, which is bright pink, I might add. How manly. Hmm.. Some fat guy's come to see the bright pink masculine plane of doom. I bet he'd make a good materia shop owner. He's fat enough… But I so can't let him take that plane.. That might be my only ticket to Wutai, right there… And when Spike's distracted and looking away, the Great Ninja Thief Kisaragi shall play! With his lovely, wonderful materia, of course. Nyeh heh heh heh…

That's it. That plane is MINE! Uh… ours, that is… Heh.

… No! Ugh, stupid, fat, son of a-

Haha. Ohmygawd, that was funny. A truck just hit him. Well, that's the end of THAT problem!

"HIYAAA!" Yay for leaping onto the moving plane being shot at by dozens of Shinra soldiers! We're soooo _smart_.

And down we go. Shit. Shitshitshittttt! We'll never get to Wutai now!

"Can we use it as a boat?" Oh yes, Cloudy-boy, we shall use it as a boat… A BOAT TO YOUR AWESOME TROVE OF DELICIOUS MATERIAAAA!

I-I think I'm gonna be sick….

Aw, man everyone's starin' at me.. And here I am, retching over the side of this… this misshapen, PINK toy plane floating like a TARGET in the middle of the sea. Wow.

So..

"L-Let's go west!"

Aw, now they're REALLY staring…

"W-what? Urgh…"

But, nooooo. They want to go the "Temple of the Ancients". What a weird sounding place. No. We hafta get to Wutai. Now.

"B-but umm.. Can we please go? Like, just for an itty-bitty bit? I wanna see my daddy…" I pretend to sob into my armguard. Heh heh heh…

Ulp! Now that's a scary look Vinnie's givin' me… Awright.. just keep calm.. don't look like you're trying to fool anyone so you can make off with all their pretty shiny materia… puppy dog eyes… c'mon..

Yes. He looked away. Phew…..

And Spikey says…

"Sure. But only for a little while. We need to catch up to Sephiroth, too."

Ohohohohoho…

-hoho

-hoho

-hoho…

Ew, I'm starting to sound like that old lady in the Pagoda- Chekhov. Yuck!

On course to… WUTAI!

Kekekekeke…ke.. ugh…

"#$&, if she keeps barfin' all over my plane, I'm stickin' a spear up her ass!"

"-ugh…" Stupid Cid.

* * *

And so… To Wutai our adventurers shall go! But, unbeknownst to them, they have a certain scheming young ninja plotting to steal all their materia! Whatever shall they do…? 


	3. Follow Your Dreams

The Materia Hunter: Third Chapter- Follow Your Dreams

* * *

Author's Note: Some of the scenarios differ from the exact game versions. This is because I can't remember how everything happens. But, just say I'm trying to be original, kay? Heh. Plus, it's more fun to have it different so you can play around with it to your advantage.. 

Disclaimer: I dun own anything. Not Final Fantasy anything. Or any of the songs that Yuffie butchers…

* * *

Since that nutso lady that's been writing all this junk down for me went on vacation, it's been a while since I've gotten to share my incredible story. I hope you little people out there can let it go; seriously, it's not my fault. _That stupid scribing slave and her 'vacations' that she claims she NEEDS and would die without them… Ha! Hahahaha!_

Ahem. Sorry 'bout that, got a little off topic. Heh heh heh. So…

Welcome to the third bone-chilling, blood-boiling, adrenaline-pumping, ultra super compelling edge-of-your-seat chapter of my wonderful saga with my materia-chock teammates.

muwahaha…

* * *

Oh, how I la-la-la-la-laaaaaaaa LAAAAAA! LOOOOOVE to be floating in this endless SEA OF TORTUREEEE! La-la-la! 

See, even Spike's getting worried. There hasn't been a single coastline, mountain in the distance, or even a frickin' BOAT in over four hours. But I know Wutai's not too far off. I can smell it. It's Wutai's signature perfume- fermenting fish with a hint of kimchi. Very faint, but I know I smell it somewhere. Don't get me wrong! Fermenting fish isn't a BAD smell once you get used to it. It's like chocobo barns. They smell foul, but if you hang around them long enough, they smell homey. Same thing here. Now what's bad is absolute ROTTING fish. Then it doesn't smell so homey anymore. It's well… really gross-smelling. Uck.

Also, I can tell we're nearing Wutai by the stuff in the water. If you look closely, you can see the little patterned round thingies floating around. Those are Adamantortoise eggs.

"Hey, there's land! I guess Yuffie's not out to drown us all, after all!"

Gee, thanks Spike… If only you knew what I REALLY have in store for you… Heheheheh…. Besides, why would I send you out on a raft.. one: with me on it, and two: without stealing all your stuff first. DUH!

So, tada! We're on nice dry land…. that doesn't slosh around and make me literally spill my frickin' guts into the nice, nauseating ocean.

"What's that #$#& smell?"

Weellllp, I can tell Cid's not into the whole "fermenting fish" thing.

Over the bridge and through the evil nasty plains full of dangerous monsters to your beautiful materia we go-o! Yuffie knows the way, to take all your stuff, and to return to her home unharmed- oh! Over the cats and through the nice shogi paper walls my dad loves to destroy to my old man's house we go-o! He stings the toes and bites the nose, as through those walls we go!

Oooh, boy, we're almost there! WHY THE HELL AM I GETTING NERVOUS? OH-MY-GAWD, THIS IS THE MOMENT OF TRUTH! I CAN ALMOST TASTE IT!

Annnnnnnnd…… NOW!

"Wait, hold on!"

All eyes on me. Wow, it's weird bein' in the spotlight. Almost feel sorry for Spike now. Almost.

"It's dangerous up ahead. I mean, REALLY dangerous."

They all look at me questioningly.

"What are you talking about? Your hometown's ahead, right?"

I wince. What now? Ooh…

"Uhm, no, there are some really powerful monsters around here. REALLY powerful.. Best look out for them… They uhm… come from the sky. So keep your focus up there, just in case."

Vincent's eyes are narrowed at me as all the others look at the sky. Shoot… What to do.. I can tell, he so isn't falling for my floundering.. What do I do? It's never this hard! I just swipe it and go! I swivel around at some noise behind me. Three Shinra MPs are there, guns raised. Okay.. here's my chance..

"HIYAH!" I dash in at lightspeed, and manage to clean out all the orbs from the weapons and armor. If there's one thing I've learned from experience, it's that the slots for materia in equipment have absolutely CRAPPY hold. I mean, I can poke the slot in a certain place, and the materia'll just fall right out. Okay, just Vinnie's left. Gotta be quick!

And FLASH! I am OUTTA THERE! Yay for my AWESOME NINJA SKILLZ! Woo hoo! Yuff-chan, your talents are unmatched. DUH! I am the Incredible Super Stupendous Princess Yuffie Kisaragi of Wutai- Materia Hunter Yuffie! Oh yeah! Hey.. why is there a slice of avocado flying through the air…? And why does it suddenly smell like balloons? …… Aw, who cares? I GOT ALL THE MATERIAAAA! And now… to Wutai..

to Wutai…

to Wutai…

to Wutai……..

"Yuffie."

"Aw, shuddup….."

"Yuffie!"

"Whut?"

"We're almost to Wutai."

Gah. Hold it… I thought we were in Wutai already.. Yawn… Huh..? Hey.. omigawd, I WAS DREAMING! Aw, poop! So it didn't really happen?

Bump. The wings of Cid's girly little plane hit the beach. I think I feel more nausea coming on than when we were floating out in the sea….

I swear, I wasn't THIS nervous in my dream… Let's just hope it goes just as smoothly.. So many regrets.. And I haven't even done anything yet! Oh, what do I do? What do I do, what do I do, what do I DO?

"Yo, #$!& inchworm! You comin', or you just gonna stand there and wait for the Beachplugs to come and eat you?"

Did he just call me "INCHWORM"? That chain-smoking, pink toy wielding sucker! Awright! The Great Ninja Materia Thief Yuffie has new motivation! Or.. was it "Great Materia Huntress Yuffie"? "Great Ninja Princess Yuffie". No… The Great Materia Hunter Yuffie, Princess of the Wutaian Ninja and Heiress to the Throne! But, for all you little people out there, you may simply know me as the Great Ninja Yuffie! That's me!

Now that we've established that, back to my task! Mission Take All of the Materia is goooooo! AH! Oh no! They're almost in position! I gotta hurry, hurry, hurry!

And so, here I am.

"Hey, waiiit! Hold onnnnn a second!"

Everyone turns to look at me. Wow, it's just like my dream! I have seen the future!

"It's dangerous up ahead. Like, REALLY dangerous!" Oops. That might've sounded a bit enthusiastic..

They all look at me questioningly.

"What are you talking about? Your hometown's ahead, right?"

I wince. What now? Ooh…

"Uhm, no, there are some really powerful monsters around here. REALLY powerful.. Best look out for them… They uhm… come from the sky. So keep your focus up there, just in case."

Vincent's eyes are narrowed at me as all the others look at the sky. Shoot… What to do.. I can tell, he so isn't falling for my floundering.. What do I do? It's never this hard! I just swipe it and go! I swivel around at some noise behind me. Three Shinra MPs are there, guns raised. Okay.. here's my chance..

"HIYAAAA!" I dash in, fast as a sunbeam. Okay, Spike, you're first.. Your armor.. and then your weapon! Yes! On to Tifa… Yes! Got it all.. wait.. no, one more. There!

Nanaki, Cid, Cait Sith, Barret! Done, done, done, done! I am just incredible! Ooh, forgot one. Vinnie.. and here come the regrets… But I gotta do this! For my home, if for nothing else…. Sorry Vinnie..

I'm starting to slow up a bit, but I gotta get it all before their attention strays from the Shinra soldiers! One, two, three, four…. Gawd, Vinnie! Spike never trusted me with this much Materia! Five, six, seven! One more…. Odin! Oh, it's stuck! SHITSHITSHITSHITSHITTTTT! Gawd, no, he noticed something… c'mon.. just a little more..

YESSSS! I made it.. I'm panting like a dog, but it's all here! Haaa…ha..hahahahaha! The Great Ninja Thief Yuffie has struck again! Ninja….. thief.. yeah. That's it. Heh heh heh.. I'll just stick behind this screen and wait it out till they leave..

"Where could she be?" Tifa's voice. Ya know, these shogi screens don't filter out sound very well.

"We'll just have to check every place until we find her! That thief will not escape with all of our Materia." Cloud voice. Man, he sounds so earnest.. desperate… I'm startin' to kinda feel a litle bad.. No! I can't let myself get soft! If that happens, I'll never be able to be my full glorious self!

_Or is it really so glorious…? Stealing is low, Yuffie Kisaragi… _

Shut up, mind! I'm better than you! I'm stronger, too!

_If you're better than that, you're definetly better than to stoop so low to stealing._

But there's no other way to save this place…

_So that's it? You think Materia will solve everything, don't you? Give the Materia to Dad, and he'll sell it. And all that money'll be put into making more Da Chao baubles and plastic Leviathan snow globes…_

No!

I leap up onto one of the rafters overhead as Godo, my old man traipses in and shuts the door behind him. Well, there goes one escape route.. Guess it's time for his afternoon nap 'cause he's pulling out a futon. Old geezer.

I hear voices coming from down the hall. Awfully familiar voices… AH! Oh no, they're coming.. I squish myself as tightly to the rafter as I can.

Become one with the rafter. Become one with the rafter.

They're here!

Oh, how graceful. Old man Godo talks in his sleep. Lovely.

"What are you doing here?"

I forgot to mention, he's polite to strangers, too.

"Have you seen a small ninja girl around here? Her name is Yuffie, and the townspeople directed us here when we inquired.."

"Yuffie? Haa haa! That awful excuse for a daughter's back in town, I see."

That's it! I am NOT part of this rafter anymore! Sorry Mr. Rafter, but it wouldn't work out between us, anyway. Red clouds my vision as I leap from the ceiling, an ethereal rage filling my aura and the rest of the room like heat in an oven.

"So WHAT exactly were you saying, old man? Awful excuse for a daughter? Did you even wonder at why these travelers bother you now?" I throw a hand out to gesture towards Spike and the others in the doorway as the Wutaian spills from my lips as awful, angry, spitting sounds, not the beautiful language it is intended to be. Godo simply stares for a second before a horrible scowl overtakes his already ugly features.

"You are a miserable daughter! No, no. You are no daughter of mine! Get out!" An enraged finger quivers as it points toward the door. Too bad. Dear Daddy can't scare me…

"You are shameful! A shame to Wutai," I spit, an equally horrible frown gracing my own face. "Da Chao and Leviathan are ashamed! You side with Shinra, you turn this town from a beautiful land steeped in history to a… a cheesy tourist resort! Forget about being any daughter of yours! You are no father of MINE!" On that happy note, I realize that Spike and the others are staring at me with hostile stares similar to Godo's. Not good.

"And what're YOU looking at?" I snarl at them. "You want your Materia back? Well, you'll just have to to take it, won't you? And I will not allow that to happen. Get out of this town." I leap away, anger still mounting in my flesh. Here I am, back from years of hard work to become a ninja and steal Materia for my hometown, and all I get from my dad is criticism and his ill-natured retorts. Not even a "well done!" or a "thank you". I can't BELIEVE him! And so now, I really have nowhere to go.. Spike'll never trust me again, even if I give back the Materia. Godo hates me, and if he hates me, the whole town pretty much hates me. Gawd, no matter which way I turn, I seem to get into a whole lotta crap, don't I?

Well, guess I just gotta lay low for a while. This little house'll do for now.. I run in quickly and put myself behind a screen. The old man doesn't seem to notice I'm here, which is good. Maybe it's the first good thing that's happened all day. I dunno. This is a good day turned shitty…

Oh god, it just got worse. How in the name of all that is sneaky and good did they find me sooo fast?

"Excuse me sir, have you seen a small ninja girl run past your house lately? Her name is Yuffie and she has a large armguard and is wearing a green shirt.

"Ehh? What's that…? A puffy with margarine and has a mean burp? Sorry…. haven't seen it.."

"um.."

"Over there!" pipes up a new voice. I tense up very suddenly, almost knocking over the screen. "A ninja like that came running in here a few minutes ago and went behind that screen! Rude it is to barge into someone's house like that."

Tifa's voice breaks into the conversation now. "We're sorry, but we need to find Yuffie. She has something very precious of ours. Thank you."

There's no escape! What to do… I just gotta run! I'm a lot faster than all of them. Just gotta have the right moment.

"We'll be out shortly."

They're coming straight for me.. they're coming, they're coming, they're coming..

Now.

My head snaps up as my ninja instinct flares up. Fingers. Cloud's fingers are gripped on the edge of the screen. This is my cue. I crouch, as if to spring, which I will. The screen is folded back swiftly, silently. A green light illuminates itself in front of my eyes, and I choose that moment to dash past, leaving a startled Spike coughing in my dust. Hee hee hee. Ninja instinct rocks my awesome fishnet socks. And as I run past, I glimpse something shiny on a belt. Correction. Something blue and shiny on someone's gun. Must be Vinnie. Reflexively, I snatch the orb quickly from the slot and burst out the door. Now why did I do that…? I can hear the door being opened again, and I know I'm being pursued. Where to go..? I take in my suroundings as quickly as I can and spot a large stoneware jar standing outside the Turtles Paradise. Diving into it, I open the lid a crack to see out. Man, is it stuffy in here.. It makes me itchy. So itchy..

Pow!

Agh! The jar almost tips over as a heavy impact insists on the side of the stone. STUPID SPIIKEEEEE!

Pow!

Oh man, what do I dooooo?

Pow!

Okay, ninja instincts. Ninja instincts…

Pow!

Now!

I leap out of the pot and make a mad dash towards the bridge. Crap! Tifa and Barret are blocking.. Guess I'll try the other bridge!

I whirl around and head in that direction, but Vinnie and Aeris are in the way. Cait Sith, Nanaki, and Cid back them. Catching Vinnie's eye, my heart just _breaks_.

The most peculiar emotion is displayed on his face right now. Not to the mention the _most_ amount of emotion I've ever seen him express is displayed on his face right now. And it does, it breaks my heart to see it. I can't believe I'm even thinking this! It's absurd! Stupid! Craptacular!

But it's just that mixture of disbelief, and unveiled anger… Man, I never want Vinnie to be mad at me! He'll shoot me in my sleep! He'll.. he'll suck my blood! He'll-

"Stop."

Cold fingers grip my upper arm and pull me away from my destination- my house. I feel myself being dragged roughly back, and something hard and dark crushes my nose. Normally, I would have blushed, seeing as I'm so close to him, my face touching his chest. Looking up ever so surreptitiously, Vincent's cold stare meets my own. The emotion that was once there is gone. I sorta bounce off of him and he holds my arm firmly as Spike begins to preach.

"What in the hell were you thinking? I- never mind. Give us back the Materia! Now! If you return it this instant without any resistance, we might take pity on you and not turn you in for theft."

Where exactly is he planning to turn me in? Heh heh. It's not like AVALANCHE can just wander into Shinra Headquarters and give them a criminal to deal with. A plan is starting to form.. Yes! That! I haven't used that contraption in ages… Hee hee hee!

"Fine," I mutter in a defeated voice. "But can I at least explain first?"

"Make it quick."

"Okay…" I sniff and give a false hiccup. Hehehe.. This is going perfectly! "Ya see.. hic.. I need the Materia cause my dad ruined the town and made it a tourist resort. We lost all our customs and everything. You heard me.. hic… arguing with him. hic I just wanted to help, honest. B-but my dad doesn't like me very much.. said I was a failure.. I didn't know what to do except earn his resp-hic-ect.. so I vowed to steal the Materia so I could sell it and restore the town.." I walk into the basement of my house as I finish and pause at the entrance to the room. "The… hic.. left lever. The Materia's in there." I sniffle again and wipe furiously, and fakely, at my eyes. Getting ready to run for it again, I watch Spike carefully as he goes over to the levers and pulls the one on the left. Immdiately, a cage falls from the ceiling onto the others. Unable to restrain it any longer, I let out a ferocious cackle.

"Hahahaha! If you really want the Materia, you're gonna hafta _steel_ it. Get it? Steel- hahaha!" I pause to stick my tongue out at Spike and then, I run away. There is no way I will give up the Materia. Even my dad will be proud once I restore the city. But as the sunlight hits my eyes when I escape my own house, I realize something's wrong. Peering around, I spot the source of trouble. Two men are trying to kidnap a blonde woman right in the center of town. Hahaha. How stupid can you get? I intercept and kick one of the men straight in the jaw. The woman attempts to flee, but the other man grabs her.

"What's a little girl like you doin' out here in the street? You should go home before some bad men decide to come and hurt you." The man I had kicked gets up from the ground and leers at me in a way I can only describe as lecherous. Gross-nesssssss! As he moves toward me, I can smell a strong odor of alcohol. This guy positively _reeks_.

"Get away from me, you sicko!" I launch my right fist at his stomach, but they double-team me. Crap. Unfair.

"Now, don't go all pissy on us or we'll have to _hurt_ you," says one of them. He has both my arms bound already! How the hell did he do that..? Shit, I'm in trouble.. Squirming, I somehow manage to get one of them in the jaw with my instep."

"You little bitch! You'll pay for that- come on!" The burlier of the two catches me up like a basket and starts off running towards the other end of town. I squirm some more, trying to fight them off, but the flash of a metal pipe silences me as I shift off into nothingness…

Words are swimming past… a slimy voice..

"Oooh! She's a cute one! Good work, boys! But you promised me a blonde for tonight…"

"Yessir. But we managed to get this one along the way."

"Alright then, I guess I'll just have to choose, then. Bring me the blonde one, anyway."

"Yessir."

Footsteps.

My eyes begin to pry themselves open, and I am suddenly aware of a burning warmth on the right side of my body.

D-Da Chao? The Da Chao Fire Caves…

"Ah, she's awake!"

That slimy voice from earlier..

My eyes pop all the way open now.

"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?"

"Now, now don't be upset, dear," says the slimy man. He is bald except for a bright yellow-blonde mohawk. Excesses of fat bulge out all over his body, making him resemble a gaudily dressed gumball. Ew.

"We'll have some fun later, so don't worry. I'm sure you'll enjoy yourself…" He licks his lips, a greedy look on his fat face. EW. OH-MY-GAWD, did he just say that? Now I get it… But this is supposed to be MY show! I steal the Materia, I get away unharmed. NOT, I steal the Materia, then some creep kidnaps me so he can 'have some fun'! Getting beat up by Spike and the others sounds pretty good right about now..

Speak of the devil..

"Okay. We'll split up, and when someone finds them, restrain Yuffie and send for the others. If they're not here, we'll meet at the base of the mountain in half an hour. Mosey!"

It's Spike! But… 'them'?

A beeper sounds from within the fat guy's coat pocket. (it's soooo tacky. Ew!)

"Yeah. Kay. So, you've got it all ready? Heh heh heh.." He kinda wiggles his chubby butt in the air after this and grabs hold of my ropes. Automatically, I start struggling.

"'EY! LEMME GO! DON'T YOU KNOW WHO YOU'RE DEALIN' WITH? I'M THE GREAT NINJA YUFFIE! AND IF YOU DON'T PUT ME DOWN, I'M GOIN NINJA ON YOUR-FRICKIN'-ASS!" There. See, Yuffie's not too young for temper tantrums. Heh.

"Nope, nope! Daddy's got a special surprise for you!" He drags me out none too gently, making sure to bump me on the cave wall on the way out, narrowly missing the flames. Oh man, what did I do to deserve this? Wait… Uhm, never mind. Eh heh heh…

And so here I am, hangin' from the seat of my pants from one of Da Chao's blessed eyes. Oh, how lovely. I knew I shoulda taken those rope lessons more seriously.. Then I coulda lasso-ed myself outta here and strangled Mister Fat-ass down there to boot! Woo! But, no. Guess I can't do anything…

"Hey! What do you think you're doing? I'm a TURK! You can't do this to me! Let me go!" A protesting young blonde woman is tied to the left eye by the men from earlier. Fat-ass lets out a taunting cackle and wiggles his butt again.

"TWO lovely ladies to choose from! Oh, which shall I pick, which shall I pick?"

Grossness!

"Corneo." A familiar voice makes me suddenly look at Fat-ass, whom I had been trying to avoid looking at. Stifling a gasp, I manage to mutter,

"V-Vinnie?"

His eyes glance to me momentarily to deliver a cold glare before shifting back to Corneo. He obviously means to say, "I want to tear your guts out," but oh gawd, at least he's here! If I wasn't tied down, I'd get my little butt down there now and kiss the life outta him! (if he has life left. I wouldn't be surprised if he was one of the undead..) But, anyhoo..

The barrel of his gun meets Corneo's temple while he digs out a PHS from his cloak with his claw.

"Cloud, they are both on the face of Da Chao now, along with Corneo."

And that's it. Pocketing the PHS, Vincent turns his attentions back to Corneo, who I have OFFICIALLY dubbed, Fat-ass.

"I couldn't care less about what you're doing, much as the way you're doing it."

Ooo, cold one, aint he?

"But one of them has something of ours that needs returning." Corneo obviously isn't listening to a single word, all his focus on the cold metal of the gun barrel pressed to his head. In what he obviously believes to be an intimidating tone, he manages to speak.

"Puh-please lower your gun!" It actually came out quite wussy sounding. I would laugh, but Vinnie'd probably murder me now..

"Hey! Vincent!" All the others, led by Spike, and accompanied by two unfamiliar figures rush up the mountainside. Corneo, for some reason, is more confident now. He begins to cackle and wiggle his butt.

"Well, now's a good a time as ever! I shall choose my companion for tonight! Hee hee!" He turns toward the mountain- and me and the blonde lady. Both of us struggle at our bindings as he simpers at us, a disgusting laugh pairing with it.

"And so my companion shall be……." A icky little drumroll sounds in my ears, as if I'm on some sort of sick game show. The girl lets out a grunt as she pulls at the ropes on her arms.

"The saucy one!" He points at me.

Oh, oh, why do I hafta be saucy? Gawd, help.. Leviathan!

"I SWEAR, IF ONLY I HAD TAKEN THOSE ROPE LESSONS MORE SERIOUSLY!" I shout this in pure frustration, squirming furiously. Corneo giggles madly and turns to Spike and the others.

"Hee hee heee! Why did you kill my little Aps? Ah, no matter. No interfering in my plans, not now, not ever! RAPPS! COME HERE!"

A deafening screech shakes the mountain as a scaly, bony, but dead-looking dragon soars down from above, one of its wingtips grazing my cheek as it does so. Immediately, my face begins to bleed. And I obviously can't wipe it away or anything.. Trying to ignore the wet warmth of the crimson liquid tricking steadily, I turn to the fight, now in progress. I see Vincent rush to the aid of the others, and Cloud retrieving his sword from the sheath on his back. I see Tifa take her fighting stance, and I also see the bald guy in the suit watching her every move. The blonde girl next to me shouts at the suits to help fight, but they all shake their heads. Clearly not on our.. I mean Spike's side.. I guess the suit guys are with the blonde girl. Now that I look, they're all wearing the same outfit. The next thing I see is the dragon, (I guess its name is Rapps,) diving, and then a spurt of crimson, like the stuff flowing from my head..

"Vincent!" Tifa rushes to his side, and Rapps turns on her, too. A look of terror crosses her sweat stained face, then another crimson ribbon…

If only they had their Materia…

This is all my fault! And I'm stuck up here; I can't do a thing! DAMMIT! They're gonna die! And it's all my fault! DAMMIT! DAMN ITT!

I suddenly feel as though I swallowed a frozen boulder as Cloud tosses Vincent a Phoenix Down. The look he gives me is.. no other word to describe it but _terrifying._ I know what he's thinking, too. He's thinking what I'm thinking. _If only we had our Materia…_

The crack of a gunshot, the clang of a sword meeting tough skin, a growl, a roar of a dragon in pain, a scream of Aeris in pain.. it's all entering my ears.. feeding my conscience..

See? Look what you've done. You stole it, and now they're suffering. Maybe you'll think twice about stealing now.

Sh-shut up. I don't need you preaching to me now. Just leave me alone… 

They're gonna die.. Vincent. He's gonna die.. I remember. He saved my eyes, and now he's gonna die. Because of me! And I can't do anything! I begin to swear the worst curses beneath my breath. I can't do anything else. I don't care. I don't care that the words I'm saying are foul and evil. I don't care if Corneo rapes me after this. I de-deserve it! It's my fault! All of them are doomed! I can't do a thing! Not a single, f thing!

And suddenly, it's over.

And…

Oh my gawd. They're all okay? Weird… But I guess, if they're alive, it doesn't really matter anymore. They're not my friends anymore. They're not on my side. They mean nothing more to me anymore than the suits with the blonde woman. They're just… more of my victims.

And for some reason, Corneo's cackling and shaking his ass again. GAWD, can't you see I'm in mental turmoil right now? Leave your stupid laughing, squirmy self outta it!

But, no such luck.

Suddenly, I find myself hanging upside down. Out of pure reflex, I start struggling along with the girl next to me, but inside, I don't really feel like I should resist anymore. Guess I deserve whatever happens after this.

"Wa-wait!" Corneo pulls out a remote control. "Come any closer and we… WE'LL HAVE SQUASHED TOMATOES!" His arrogant giggles don't even get to my ears anymore. Of course, that could also be because of the blood rushing to them along with the rest of my head.

"And this is where we come in." The suit with the red hair, gone unnoticed until now, turns towards Corneo. His eyes are the most shockingly bright shade of blue-green I have ever seen, challenged only by the eyes of that creep, Sephiroth. The next thing I see is the guy's foot swing out, and suddenly, Corneo is hanging on by his fingertips on the side of the mountain.

"So tell us. Why would we come here at all? One. Because- huh?" The tall, bald one kicks at Corneo's fingers with the toe of his shoe, provoking a squeak from the unfortunate pervert.

"Never mind that. It's just our job."

"Right."

And one final stomp and the click of dress shoes, Corneo is gone.

Now these ropes are really starting to burn. Oh gawd, pain.. Pain! ITCHY BUTT!

"GET ME DOWWWWNNN!" The wounded group starts and looks up at me. I feel _very_ uncomfortable.

"Umm.. heh heh heh… Could you, um… please help me out? I promise to return all your stuff…"

They all look at each other and mutter. Feh.. Guess they can't be THAT wounded, or they'd be all gash-y and messed up… And they wouldn't be muttering. Idiots..

"Ahem- eh?"

Long, bony fingers make their presence known on the upper part of my right arm as they begin to pick apart the knots. Trying not to gasp, or jerk away, or anything, I look up at Vincent. But he doesn't look back at me, him being sure to focus completely on the bindings. I bite my lip. He's probably so mad.. He'll likely shoot me or let me fall off the mountain once he's done…

Within minutes, the knots are broken, and I look at Vincent again for some form of acknowledgement. But there is none. Glancing over, I note that the blonde woman and the suited guys are gone. Wonder where they went… To my surprise, however, Vincent doesn't kill me or start torturing me… Instead, in a strangely gruff voice he asks, "Can you get down yourself?" Nodding slightly, I bend my cramped legs and start to leap down off the face of Da Chao.

"Man, Da Chao, I can't believe I letcha have such a great view of my ass that whole time. Ya musta been in heaven to have my sexy little buttocks shoved against your right eye. Hope they left a print for all the wretched tourists to see."

And I might be foolin' myself, but I swear I just saw somethin' like a smile on those stationary lips of Vinnie's. (weirdo.)

"Well, here ya go!" A mock cheeful singsong spills outta my mouth as I fix random Materia into the slots of each weapon and piece of armor. "It might be a little wrong, but hey, at least it's there!"

"You brat, it's all outta order! This isn't even mine!"

Sigh. Barret, the insensitive marshamallow-man.

"Well.. umm.. I guess you guys better be on your way to beat Sephiroth, huh?" For some reason, I can't really mask the sadness in my voice right now.

"Yeah."

"We'd better go."

"Yep. Yo, Cloud, aren't cha gonna say 'mosey', at least?"

"Shut up Cid. You're no help!"

They all start laughing. Except for Vincent, of course. I turn to him and bow politely, a small thanks for helping me out. He just stares at me apathetically. Vamp…

"Is Yuffie coming?"

My mouth forms an "O" as I hear this sentence come from _Vinnie's_ mouth. Not only is it an entire sentence in itself, but it's actually referring to _me_ when no one else thought to ask if I should come. I had just assumed they'd leave me here…

Aeris smiles. "I don't see why not."

Everyone turns to stare at her now.

"Where have YOU been?"

I'm not even gonna say who says this, because they ALL say it. In unison. Except for Vincent and Aeris.

So after several minutes of arguing, cursing, and conversation, it was settled.

I was still gonna be 'part of the team', much to Cid's dismay, of course. I don't think Barret was too happy about this particular arrangement, either, but he isn't as scary as he looks… I'm quick enough to avoid a spray of bullets, but if Cid creeps up behind me and decides he wants to test out a new spear.. well, I can't do that. And Barret can't creep up behind me, he casts a HUGE shadow. But I'm getting off topic here.

"So, I guess now that that's settled, we'll be heading off to find some information about the Temple of The Ancients, where Sephiroth is supposedly headed. If you hear anything, don't hesitate to tell me. We'll split up into groups, and Cid'll drop us off at different destinations with the plane. I will go with Barret. Tifa will go with Aeris, Nanaki and Cid will be together, I guess Cait Sith comes with me and Barret, and that leaves Yuffie and Vincent."

I blink. "Spike, why do ya keep putting me with Vinnie?"

"Well, last time it was because you two were already… acquainted. But I think it's best to have you.. monitored closely after this little incident, so Vincent is naturally best for the job."

"In other words, ya don't trust me, and so you're sendin' the only one who can possibly even COMPETE with my awesome ninja skillz!"

"Tweak the 'awesome ninja skillz' part, and I'd say you're pretty perceptive. Mosey!"

"HEY! YOU SPIKEY-HEADED JERK! ONE DAY, I'LL KICK THAT GIRLY LITTLE ASS OF YOURS, AND YOU'LL BE SORRY! YOU'LL BE SOR-RYYYY!"

"Well, Tifa, so you did tell her about that time I had to crossdress to get into Corneo's mansion?"

"Uhm.. Actually, I didn't tell her anything.."

My eyes bulge out of their sockets. "SPIKE CROSSDRESSES?"

"Bwahahahaha!"

Vincent lets out an exasperated sigh behind me.

* * *

That was the longest chapter yet! It took me a while to write, too. My favorite chapter is the first one, though… 

Since this is an edited version, I can answer a couple questions, comments, concerns, etc. that were put in some the first reviews for this chapter.

'Rising Sun' is on hiatus? Yea, that sounds about right.. There's a lot of stuff in there I need to fix to make it read a little better.. eek.

Even though the one named 'Mog Knight' has not reviewed yet, I'd like to thank them for taking the time to e-mail me and remind me that I have a fanfiction to write, and I cannot just lay on my ass sixteen hours of the day and sleep. Plus, it's kindafun to get e-mails and stuff from people. Thank you to DemonSurfer as well for chattin' with me; it was fun. If you have time, check out some of their stuff sometime!

End author note.


	4. Eventful Stay at the Gold Saucer

The Materia Hunter: Fourth Chapter: Eventful Stay at the Gold Saucer

* * *

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VII or L'Arc en Ciel or Play-doh, OR Barney. That's a weird combination…

* * *

So here it is. Fun and games, you got away from me before, but you're not escapin' this time! Gold Saucer HERE, I COME!

The first good thing Spike's done so far! He made us go to the Gold Saucer! Things are lookin' u-p-p-ppp! He even got us a suite at the Ghost Hotel! I can't wait, I can't wait, I CAN'T WAIT!

"Yuffie, would you kindly stop fidgeting? We're almost there."

I sigh and try to sit still. Why is this cable car so s-l-o-w?

five minutes later!

"Vinnie, are we there yet?"

He shakes his head slowly.

five minutes later!

I look out the window to see the Gold Saucer, slowing growing closer. I wonder if anyone can see me down there? I smush my face against the window and make funny faces. Heh. This is fun… Ya know, I still feel kinda guilty that I stole all the Materia… I mean, I gave it all back, but still… Spike and the others had to go through hell and a half to get it back. And then, Spike gives me this awesome trip to my favorite place! MAJOR guilt trip there. Pulling away from the window, I eye Vinnie as I sit back down. He appears to be locked in thought. I wonder what he thinks about? And now that I have some nice quiet time, I'm wondering what happened to that injury he got back at Mt. Nibel? It can't have healed completely by now. But still… it's strange. He wasn't fazed at all after, even though that wound looked pretty bad. And there didn't seem to be any complications… wait. In the hotel room! I remember thinking something was weird about him when I saw him there, and now I know.. This guy is some sort of freak! I saw him with his shirt off! And there wasn't even a SCRATCH where that gaping hole had been! NOW, I am officially creeped out… Creepy, creepy, creepy..!

"Creepy, creepy, creepy, CREEPY!"

Vincent jerks up his head suddenly, and his steady red gaze meets mine.

"I'm sorry, did you say something, Yuffie?"

I was talking aloud! Lucky for me he didn't hear…

"Nope, nothin'!"

Only about two more minutes pass, and we're on the ground. The ticket lady hands us a printed photo of our cable car ride. Weird.. I didn't know they did this. Ticket sales must be up…

"Hey, Vinnie, what're we supposed to be doin' here, anyway?"

He doesn't look up. Instead, he's starin' at that picture the ticket lady just handed him. I stand on tiptoe and peek over his shoulder. Then, I burst out laughing. The picture was taken through the window of the car from the outside instead of inside. There musta been a camera on the exterior of it.. But instead of a nice picture of two people sitting inside, conversing pleasantly, there was my face, shoved up against the glass of the window, fixed in a mock horrified expression, my nose squished and slightly off-center from being dragged to the side on the glass, my left cheek distorted in the same manner. But Vinnie doesn't utter a word, still probably wondering why in hell a ticket sales clerk just gave him a admittedly low quality, yet strikingly beautiful picture of my face. (joking) So, with my ultra, supersonic, ninja speed/skillz, I snatch the picture and shove it down into my underwear. Muwahaha! Vincent gives me this weird, half-'I couldn't give a crap', half-bemused look, then turns back towards the clerk.

"Oh, so you two have the gold lifetime passes. Please enjoy yourself!"

Vinnie nods and goes into the main room with all the slides leading to sections of the park, me close at his heels.

"Ya didn't answer me, Vinnie! What are we supposed to do here?"

He looks down at me, the weird look replaced with his usual 'mask of doom', as I have named it.

"We are to wait here for all the others. Cloud said that once he leaves the Temple, he will call everyone, and they will congregate here."

"Why doesn't everyone just go to the Temple?"

"Cloud took Barret and Cait Sith there to find Sephiroth and hopefully deter him. Cid and Nanaki headed back to Nibelheim to see if they can recover the buggy. The others are all training."

"Why can't we train, too?"

"Cloud needs us here at the Gold Saucer to correspond with in case something happens at the Temple. We're the emergency backup, I suppose."

I laugh. "Well, it's fine by me! Hey, why do you always know everything while I know nothing about Spike's plans?"

"It's because I listen and you do not."

Heh… Painfully honest… Ooh! SPEED SQUARE! ROLLERCOASTER!

"WOOOOOOOTTTT!" I make a mad dash towards the Speed Square tunnel, but Vinnie holds me back. Damn.

"We need to check in at the hotel first. You may do as you please after that."

"Vinnie, why do you sound like a recording? Are you a robot?" That would explain some things….

"I'm not a robot, and I'm sorry if you don't like the way I talk."

"Gee, sorry! Okay.. Ghost Square."

I dive headfirst into the tube, squealing my head off the whole way down. The tunnel begins to slope up, and I curl into a ball and roll towards the exit. Finally, I pop out of the hole and roll until I bump into a gravestone and stop. So graceful. A few seconds later, Vincent leaps from the tunnel and lands TRULY gracefully on one knee. One knee… When I was a little girl, I would imagine the way my future husband would propose to me. He would get down on one knee and- HOLD THE PHONE, that was a random thought and that is all. Yay.

Anyhoo.

Vinnie stands and makes his way towards the entrance of the Ghost Hotel, me staring after him, mouth agape like a fish out of water. Okay, so step one.. lift jaw. Step two. Get rid of drool. (why am I drooling again? Maybe I fell asleep standing up! That is so awesome..) Step three. Take a step! So, I go into the hotel. Vinnie is talking to the weird hanging man-doll-hotel clerk… thing. One of the 'ghosts' leers at me in a way that reminds me most disturbingly of the perverted guys in Wutai.

"Hey baby, wanna go have some fun upstairs? No risk with me- ahahahahahaaa!"

Gross. Ness. I dig around in my pocket for ammunition. Closing my fingers tightly around the small pebble, I whip it out and chuck it at the 'ghost'. But it passes right through and hits the wall behind him. Stupid ghost…

"Yuffie, let's go."

Pausing the scowl at the offending light projection-turned-ghost, I find that he's disappeared. What kind of idiot makes his fake ghosts hit on the customers? Weirdo..

"Yuffie."

"Comiiiiiiinggggg!"

I bound up the stairs, two at a time to catch up with Vinnie. Once I do, he looks down at me, one eyebrow raised.

"So I take it he wasn't your type?"

Wow. WOW. WOWWW. Did Vinnie just make a joke? I think he did! This is the PROUDEST MOMENT OF MY LIFE! Sniff…

"We're here."

We've stopped at the last door on the third level. Weird. I didn't even know this hotel HAD three levels..

And so the moment you've all been waiting for, folks. The door creaks open softly, snagging for a moment on the dark, lush carpet inside.. And then…

"BOO!"

"EEEEEEEEEEK!"

Vincent sighs softly and motions towards the man on the doorknocker. "Yuffie, no need to shout. It's just a recording to spook anyone that opens the door."

Wow. He didn't jump or shout or ANYTHING. Man made of rock? That would explain some things, too…

"Hey Vinnie? Are you made of- whoa…"

THIS ROOM IS HUGE!

Uh uh! It's not just one room, either! There's this living area/kitchen we just entered into.. and a bedroom on either side. Geez… Cloud really busted the budget this time around…

"Hey, Vinnie? How are we affording this? And are you made of rock?"

"Cloud said that Cait Sith handled it, and no, I am not made of rock. Aren't you going to go and play in the Saucer?"

"Wanna eat a snack first."

"Fine." Vinnie then wanders into the first bedroom and flips on the lights.

I wander over to the mini bar and grab a 'Moogle Brand Chocolate Marshmallow Wonder with Almonds". Tearing the wrapper off proves to be a battle. As I bang the thing on the counter and curse at it, Vinnie comes in from one of the bedrooms. He blinks.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm TRYING TO GET THIS STUPID THING OPEN!"

BANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANG.

"Stop." He grips my wrist lightly with his normal hand to stop me beating up the poor chocolate bar and then proceeds to open it neatly with seemingly no effort. Freak.

"Umm… Thanks."

He just nods at me, my wrist still in his hand.

And here it comes. How blood just loves to work hard to defy gravity just for me in these situations. I can just see it. The rest of my body is probably going white as every drop of blood in my system goes directly to my face.

My mantra: He is not hot. He is not hot. He is not hot. He is not hot. He is not hot.

"He is not hot. He is not hot. He is not hot. He is not hot."

"I'm sorry, did you say something?"

Meep!

Oh my gawd, I am acting like those… those DITSY LITTLE PRIMPY PRINCESS WANNABES back in Wutai! Bad Yuffie! BAD! But I can't honestly say Vinnie's not an attractive man, I guess… Even if he is old and morbid and probably has mold growing in his underwear from him being stuck in a coffin for so long…

Hmm… How can something so old and gross be so damn sexy?

Bad Yuffie! BAD! BADDDDD!

"Uhm… Vinnie?"

"Yes?"

"I think I'm gonna go shower…" A wise decision on my part, as I am thinking I stink like rotting crap. I yank my wrist out from Vinnie's fingers and go into the other room. Each bedroom has its own bathroom. Swanky…

I shut the bathroom door, turn on the light, and pull out the faucet. Warm water begins to gush out, and I wonder when the last time I bathed was. I didn't in Wutai, so it musta been back in Rocket Town which was four days ago. Four days isn't that bad for my lifestyle… but when you've been fighting monsters and bleeding, etc., ya tend to get dirtier faster…

The water is the right temperature, so I manage to shimmy out of my beat-up clothes and turn on the shower. Nice showerhead… Taking a moment to examine myself in the mirror, opposite, I notice a scratch on my cheek, a shadow of a bloodstain beneath it, some cuts on my arms, and a rather sizeable bruise on my upper leg. Nice.

So goes the shower, which is rather steamy and nice. Water really is great. Heh heh. And soap. Shampoo, too. When I get out some time later, I hardly recognize myself. A layer of dirt, which had me thinking I had tanned to the point of skin cancer, is gone, leaving my natural, olive-cream skin behind. All the gunk is gone from my hair, the bloodstains have disappeared, and all my cuts are barely noticeable anymore. All that remains to disappear is the bruise.

Now, I turn gaze onto my clothes. They look pretty pathetic there on the floor, like dirty little turds. I should get some new clothes… I think Gold Saucer has a mini-mall attached, but you have to take a monorail to it. Maybe that's what I'll do tonight. I mean, why be clean and nice-smelling when your clothes look like shit? So, I beat as much dust and dirt out of them as I can, extract the photo from my underwear, and tug the clothes on rather roughly. Since I don't think I'm gonna do any fighting here, I leave my armor and weapon.

"Vin-nie!"

He's there, sitting on the couch in the living room area, reading a newspaper. Ahahaha, he kind looks like my dad right now. Well, my dad, back when my mom was with him and he was nice. He used to wake up early every morning, get some juice, and sit on his zabuton in the living room while reading the newspaper. But… Hee hee! Vinnie is MUCH hotter.

"Yuffie?"

Icky ew gross. Mind, you are disgusting..

"Yuffie."

But he does look rather nice… sitting there without that big scary cloak or that red thing wrapped around his head… And he's even unbuttoned the cuffs on his sleeves.. and left his shirt half undone… DAMN SMEXAY!

"Yuffie."

Ah, well I should get some better clothes… I hope I have enough money.

"Yuffie."

AHHHHHHHHH!

"Yups?"

"Are you feeling well? I called you four times already."

Four times?

"Uh, yeah! I'm feeling fine." For further annoying emphasis, I hop around and sing a couple blurbs of 'Feeling Fine' by L'ArcenCiel. But Vinnie just gives me this perplexed look that has the obvious meaning of, "what in the hell are you doing?"

Hahaha. Wow, I'm starting be able to translate his subtle facial expressions into words. I'm sooo skilled.

"Well… I have decided that I need new clothes, so I'm gonna take the monorail to the mini mall. Do ya wanna come?"

Much to my surprise, he nods. Weird. I thought I'd have to drag him kicking and screaming.. Hahaha. That's a funny image..

"Do ya need something there?" He must… seeing as I don't think he'd come just to hear me being annoying to.. annoy him. It's fun, really! He's the only one that won't try to murder me once I start singing the Barney songs.

"Yes, I need socks."

Er. Vinnie needs socks. And the tumbleweed blows past…

"You need socks."

"Yes."

His expression doesn't change.

"Socks."

"Yes."

"Socks. As in the things you wear on your feet."

"Yes… What other kind of sock is there?"

And another tumbleweed blows past.

Well… I guess all people wear socks if they wear shoes… but it's WEIRD to go sock shopping with VINNIE… Sock shopping with Spike maybe, or maybe thong shopping, according to the stuff I've heard, but not with Vinnie… Whoa there, no! NOT thong shopping with Vinnie! WHY AM I THINKING ABOUT GOING THONG SHOPPING WITH VINNIEEEE?

"S-So! Umm.. What kind of socks?" _Please don't say toe socks. Please don't say toe socks.._

"I just need new socks, Yuffie. Mine are getting holes."

_His socks are getting holes._

"Uhh… you wouldn't happen to want toe socks, would you?"

"What do you mean?"

Man, he was in that coffin for a looonng time. He doesn't even know what toe socks are.

"Well.. Let's GO!" I grab his claw and head towards the door. His fingers kinda hurt… I never knew that the shiny gold things were actually sharp.. owch.

"Yuffie, you may want to let go of that hand. The fingers will cut you."

Gee, no kidding. I let go of the claw and call the elevator to the furthest left, a sign above it reading 'to Monorail'.

One more excruciatingly long ride later…

Oh my gawd. A mall! It's been so long… Even though I'm kinda a tomboy, that still doesn't mean that I don't have a girlish bone in my body. Honestly, I can be a shoppaholic if I come across a good mall to raid. This why I seem to have so many money problems… and is also why I sometimes hafta swipe some cash on my way to places. But I haven't been to a mall in AGES! This is heaven…

We get off the monorail in front of the entrance to the mall. Just inside, a food court kills my nose with all its yummy smells… Drooling… drooling.. No! Must buy clothes and socks.

"So, Vinnie! Where d'ya wanna go first?"

A group of teenage girls, maybe a little older than me, saunter past us, each one eyeing Vincent with the most disgustingly hungry looks on their faces. Suddenly, I'm very conscious of my rumpled and frayed clothes, my slim hips, my short hair, my flat chest… and every other part of my appearance I don't like. And I become even more aware of the manner in which Vinnie is dressed. I noticed it earlier… but now I notice the black crispness of his shirt, which is different from the one he normally wears. I think he usually wears a double breasted dress shirt with the weirdest three-quarter sleeves, but this one is just a normal, collared black shirt with one set of buttons, which he has only buttoned the middle three. He has a yummy-looking collarbone.

Whoa. Where did THAT come from?

Now that I have become observant, I realize that every teenage girl that walks past us is starin' at Vinnie! (gawd, there are a lot.)

Ohmygawd, his pants are WEIRD right now..

Without the normal assortment of metal plated belts, his pants are just a little too big for him in the waist, so they sit lower, instead hugging his rather prominent hipbones. Lucky his shirt is long… or it might look kinda silly. But no, it looks.. SEXY.. Hot DAMN, VINNIE LOOKS SEXY.

"Yuffie, exactly what are you staring at?"

For no real reason, I burst out laughing. Trying to make light of the situation, I blurt out the first thing I can think of.

"Haha! HA, Vinnie, y-your pants are falling down!"

Shoot.

Now the teenage girls are REALLY starin'.

Quickly, Vinnie glances down and pulls one side of the waistband up with his thumb and forefinger, only to have it sag back down around his hips.

"I don't think they are going to fall down, Yuffie. But we should get you some new clothes first. Where are you going to look?"

I whip my head around, looking for a good store. Hmm..

EEEEE! They have a Plutonian Cabbage store here! I squeal and run towards it, the light emitting from the sign above the store shining like the light of heaven. Vinnie walks calmly after me, an adolescent young girl stopping to gawk at him every five feet. This is getting ridiculous… Sure, Vinnie is hot, but GAWD, they're lookin' at him like they've never seen a guy before…

Ooo, this top is pretty sweet.. Lessee, find the size, find the price… Okay… a small, and it's…

3,678 gil. Boom.

I guess I could just… try it on.

So I grab the top and head off towards a rack of pants. From the corner of my eye, I spot Vinnie in the guys section, inspecting a pair of dark colored socks. I don't think they're toe socks… Do they even make toe socks for guys?

Gawd, all these jeans are all distressed and ripped up and holey… I can do that myself without paying twice as much for em! In fact, they'll probably look twice as bad in a couple weeks! Aren't there any normal jeans?

Flip. Flip. Flip. Flipping through racks and racks and racks of pants…

Hey, here's somethin'.. A jean skort.. Without holes. I never really looked good in skirts, though… and skorts look the same. See, instead of Aeris, who looks grownup and ladylike in her dress because she has hips, I end up looking like I'm ten years old in a skirt because I have NO hips.

I'll just put this skort back where I found it, then.

Ah, here are some normal jeans. Lessee… extra long, classic fit, boot cut, flared, low rise, sparkly… Extra long would be too long, classic fit might work… boot cut might, too, as well as flared, low rise would fall down, sparkly.. would.. shed. Guess I'll try the flared ones… Gawd, they're JUST JEANS! Sigh.

Anyhoo…

I go into the back to try the stuff on. The jeans are a little long… (probably because I'm short and built like a twig), but the top is pretty good. Too bad it's expensive. Spike would kill me for spendin' so much on clothes. And the jeans aren't exactly cheap…

"Your total is eight thousand two hundred seventy-eight gil."

I wince. "Vinnie, you really don't have to do this."

He simply waves a nonchalant hand at me. "It's of no consequence."

"YES IT IS. THAT'S A LOT OF MONEY!"

"Out of a sizeable account that has not been used in forty years."

"Fancy words for sayin' you're loaded."

"Perhaps."

Damn Vinnie and his evil credit card.

I glance at the clock on the wall behind the counter, and see that it's 8:34 PM. It's really not as late as I thought it was… For some reason, I thought it was at least ten o' clock. Maybe it's 'cause a lotta stuff happened today. First, we traveled from Wutai to Nibelheim, which took FOREVER. We stopped there to rest and have a meeting, (much to Vinnie's dismay… I think. I don't think he likes that place very much.), and then Cid dropped us off at North Corel so we could take the Ropeway to the Gold Saucer. And we got there around six thirty.

Now that I think about it, I should probably eat some dinner…

"Hey, Vinnie, let's go get something to eat! I'll pay for it!"

There. Now we're even. Kinda…. Well, not really, not unless he buys a five-course feast and three bottles of expensive wine..

And then I'm broke. Hehe. Hot dogs sound good right about now.

We go back out into the mall, a large Plutonian Cabbage shopping bag in my right hand, and Vinnie's wrist in my left. Hmm… Where to go… It smells yummy out here.

"What do you want to eat, Yuffie?"

"What do YOU wanna eat?"

"I don't need anything."

"Yes, you do. You haven't eaten anything since we were in Nibelheim, and all you had was a tiny lettuce sandwich."

"It wasn't tiny, and it wasn't just lettuce."

"Too bad. I don't care if it was a crap sandwich, you're having SOMETHING! Then, maybe your pants will stop threatening to fall down." Crap sandwich? That made NO sense..

"You're acting like my mother."

"Yes, and mommie dearest needs her wittle boy to eat lotsa food so he can grow up big and strong."

Vinnie just sighs this time, his shoulders falling as to admit defeat. Ha HA! Great Ninja Yuffie is triumphant yet again! So.. where to go?

I close my eyes and sniff at the air like a dog. Which scent shall little Yuffie follow? Walking blindly, I follow my nose towards.. something. And then suddenly…

"EEK!"

"ACK!"

My bag goes flying in the air as I topple over something with limbs that screeches loudly. Damn gawping teenage maniacs. The edge of a paper shopping bag slices through my cheek, incidentally, in the exact same spot that Rapps had cut me on. Cursing softly, I stumble to my feet and lay a hand over the cut. The almost healed gash bleeds freely again, and that yucky warm, wet sensation trickles over my skin. Quickly, I shove a hand into the pocket of my shorts and drag out a Restore Materia. My policy: never go anywhere without a Restore and a Fire. Ya never know what might come up… especially in MY life.

"Cure."

As the green Materia glow hovers over the gash, the thing I had tripped over stands up. It appears to be… a teenage girl, like I had thought! Musta been starin' at Vinnie. She doesn't look much older than me.

"Owch…"

"You okay? Sorry 'bout that," I offer, cautiously going over to the girl. I swear, if she's one of those types who's gonna screech at me and hit me with a purse, BOTH of these cute little Materia might just get used tonight..

"Yuffie. Are you alright?" Vinnie swiftly goes to my side, my shopping bag in his hand. His eyes turn from slight concern to obvious animosity as he turns to glare at the person I'd tripped over.

"Why have you been following us?" he asks blandly and unblinkingly. It's scary how he can do that.

It's interesting how quickly someone's face can change color. And for once, it's not me! Wow!

Pink… red… very ripe cherry… white…

And in the end, she runs. Vinnie makes to go after her, but at last moment, I grab the waistband of his sagging pants, and he stops, turning his hostile and rather demonic-looking glare onto me. Shivers…

"What are you doing?" he hisses softly. He doesn't hide his fury as well as all his other emotions…

"She isn't worth running after, Vinnie," I murmur calmly, watching the fleeing girl just barely catch the monorail outside. "There wasn't any danger, or anythin'."

"And I am supposed to trust that."

"Gah, stop being so mean! She was following us 'cause she was starin' at YOU the whole time! She RAN because she was EMBARRASED! I do NOT think someone would go to stalk people in the middle of a mall AND go lingerie shopping in one trip!" Furiously, I grab a purple, lacy bra off the ground that had fallen out of the 'stalker's' bag and shove it in Vinnie's face. People are starting to not only stare, but stare like we're dangerous criminals…

"If you catch her following us again, do whatever, I don't care. But I don't think.. she was any danger to us."

It's like a bucket of warm water was suddenly dumped on Vinnie's head. His face relaxes, his pupils become normal, his composure returns… I wonder what's up with that?

"I'm sorry Yuffie. I just got a little.. carried away."

Sweet relief. "Goooooody goody gumdrops, Vinnie, you we're beginning to scare me. I wouldn't have been surprised if you had turned into a monster and exploded!"

Whoa there! Exactly why are his eyes the size of plates, then? And then, quickly, he's normal again. This guy.. I can't figure him out! Weirdo.. Double weirdo!

His voice sounds kinda shaky and startled. "Right. I don't think.. that I can explode. You are going to get something to eat?"

I blink. "Yeah." Huh. He didn't say anything about the monsters.. HAHAHAHA! Silly paranoid Yuffie-chan! No one can turn into a monster! That's impossible.

Numbly, I go over to a random hot dog vendor and order two to go. I don't think I can handle all the people starin' anymore.

"Here you go. One chili cheese dog and one baked potato dog to go! That will be two hundred fifty gil, please."

A little steep, but everything's expensive at the Gold Saucer, I guess. I dig around in my pocket and pull out some random coins and gil notes. Three one hundred gil notes are counted out and handed over. I don't feel like sorting through coins. Honestly, I just wanna go to bed…

"Fifty gil is your change. Have a nice evening!"

"Thanks…" I grab the bag and exit out the swinging glass doors to where Vinnie is waiting at the monorail stop.

Two minutes seem like two seconds even though there seems to be that awkward silence hovering thick in the air. The train screeches to a stop, and the doors open as the recorded voice announces, "Gold Saucer Mini Mall. Next Stop- Ghost Square Hotel." We wait for all the people to get off, and then we board ourselves. Three minutes pass, and not a word. As the doors slide closed, I realize we are the only ones on the monorail car. That's odd.

"Hey Vinnie?"

"Yes?"

"Are you mad at me?"

"Why would I be mad at you?"

"I dunno… Maybe 'cause I stopped you from chasing that girl."

"I believe your instinct was correct. She was not going to harm us."

"Okaaayy…"

MAN, I HATE THIS! This is like when we first met, except.. eekier! Eekier! I dunno what it means, but it describes this perfectly! And it feels like shit! Like I've done something wrong, (most recently, like in the last half hour), and I'm still in that little blip of time in which Vinnie doesn't trust me, and I'm half-guilty, half-waiting-to-be-spanked, and everyone's just UNCOMFORTABLE. Ack, ack, ack! I HATE THIS! And I can't explain why it's like this.. It just happened? For no reason. Maybe it's just the way Vinnie is.. I hafta admit, he emits this creepy _aura_, which makes everyone feel sorta weird. And sometimes, he's different, kinda _paternal_, and it makes ya feel all fuzzy and comfy. And yet, you'd think that since he's so quiet all the time, he'd be like a mindless slave that sticks to you like glue and makes you be the leader. But he always comes out on top? I don't get it. This guy is just confusing. Confusing and creepy.

"Confusing and creepy."

"I'm sorry, did you say something?"

"Uhm. Nope!" Damn déjà vu.

We make it back to the hotel room okay, and I plop down on the loveseat in the living area. Time for hot dogs.

"Vin-nie! Come eat a hot dog."

I can feel Vinnie's reluctance as he sits on the seat beside me. Why wouldn't he wanna eat anything? Eating is one of the few universal hobbies of this world. And it isn't universal if Vinnie doesn't like it, 'cause he's part of the universe!

"So we have… One chili dog and one baked potato dog. Have a preference?"

He just shakes his head.

"Kay, whatever." I grab the closest one, which ends up being the chili dog, and chomp into it. Yummy. Still nice and warm, too. Hehe. Chomp, chomp, chomp. I love hot dogs… And I love chili! And chili on a hot dog is heaven on earth, baby!

"Vinneh, wh ahrn't ya ating aysing?"

"Pardon?"

I swallow. "Vinnie, why aren't you eating anything?" I repeat, picking absentmindedly at my bun. "If you don't start eating that potato dog within the next minute and a half, I'm gonna hafta force feed it to ya."

He just blinks at me, and looks from me to the neglected baked potato/hot dog on the coffee table.

"Alright. But you should know that I don't need to eat as much as you or the others."

"Are you calling us pigs?"

"No. My metabolism works… differently."

"Okay, then. I'll just pretend I understood that and get back to eating!" Chomp.

Almost warily, Vinnie takes up a fork and begins to pull apart the potato and cut it into sections. What the hell is he doing? You're supposed to pick it up… cram it in… chew it up, and make a mess!

"No, no no! Vinnie, you're doing it all wroooonnnnng!" I wail, acting as if Vinnie had just broken a very serious law. He's DOING IT WRONG! WRONG!

And I moan "WROONNNNNG" again, pick up one of Vinnie's neat spud sections and do exactly as the hot dog eating manual says- shove it down the hatch. Vinnie's hatch, to be precise.

Is it just me, or is Vinnie turning WHITER? IS IT POSSIBLE? OHMYGAWD! HE MUST BE CHOKING!

"I'LL SAVE YOU, VINNIE!"

I dart around behind the choking victim, place my right leg between his legs, make a fist, and-

"Agh! Yuffie, what are you doing?"

"I'm saving you! Now hold- STILL!"

My fist thrusts in and up on what I THINK is his diaphragm. Funny. Feels more like a bone to me…

"Ow!"

AHHHHHHH! Vinnie said 'ow!' He's capable of saying 'ow'? HE SAID 'OW!'

"Wow, you said 'ow'! Are you still choking? You're still choking, arencha?"

"No! No! Yuffie-"

"DON'T WORRY VINNIE! WE'LL GET IT OUT!"

"OW!"

The door bursts open.

"Spike!" I gasp. "Vinnie's choking!"

"I am not choking!"

That's a funny look on Spike's face…

Several minutes later:

"Yuffie, if the person can talk, they ARE NOT CHOKING. I'm sure Vincent appreciated your concern, though," reassures Tifa. Me, her, and Aeris retreat into my room while Spike checks out Vinnie's busted ribs… or sternum.. or something, I don't remember. I THOUGHT I was hitting a bone…

Spike pokes his head in.

"Hey, Aeris? Do you have a higher level Restore?"

"Yup." A shimmery, green orb is tossed across the room. For some reason, Aeris' Materia is always a lot prettier than all the others. Maybe she polishes 'em?

"Thanks."

I swivel around to face the two of them. "So what brings you back here? Did Spike find anything?"

Aeris looks down at the flowery printed bedspread as she speaks. "Well, Tifa and I were out training in the area surrounding the Temple while Cloud was inside. He was in only about ten minutes before he came back out, saying something about needing a key to get in. So Cid picked us back up and took us here to meet up with you. I don't really know what we're to do now.. It's like a dead end. And I was so close…" Her green eyes look very troubled. I guess she really needs to get into that Temple.

Tifa pats her arm gently. "Don't worry. There's no such thing as a dead end."

"Thanks, Tifa."

"Hey, what're best friends for?"

I pretend to pout. "Geez, do I feel loved. And there I was, thinking about how wonderful my two bestest friends were." Poouuuuutt.

"….."

"….."

"OWCH!"

Simultaneously, two bodies collide with mine in a series of wild glomps. I think my bones are creaking under the weight. Owch! Owowowow!

"OWW!"

Together, they both get off. I think it's funny how they can both do things at the exact same time.

"Owww…"

Aeris giggles. Oh gawd, here it comes… She's turned on the giggling machine again! Headaches for later…

"Don't worry, Yuffie-chan, we love you."

Tifa smirks. "Yup! So now, we're gonna go take you to see your boyfriend!"

I blink. "I don't have a boyfriend…"

They both giggle in unison now. I think my brain is gonna explode…

"Yes, you do! VINCENT!"

"AGH, VINCENT IS NOT MY FRICKIN' BOYFRIEND!"

"Oh, sorry, _guy friend._"

"Vincent is a… is.. uhh…"

"Walking companion?"

"Shopping companion?"

"Couch partner?"

"Date?"

"ARGHHHH!" Brandishing both pillows, I chase the two giggling maniacs out of the room.

"Oooh, Vinnie, Yuffie LURVES YOU!" Giggle, giggle, giggle. Those two are deader than the doorknob once I get my hands on 'em..

Huh? Why am I flying across the room…?

"AERIS, DAMN YOU!" I hate the Eject Materia! "I KNEW I SHOULDA JUST KEPT THAT ONE, YOU GIGGLING, PINK, LITTLE- EEEEK!" I suddenly soar right through the door of Vinnie's room, which had been miraculously closed moments before.

"Ow-ch…"

Cloud pulls me to my feet. "Yuffie? What are you doing in here?"

I clear my head and open my eyes. Man, today's been painful.. Gonna be achin' in the morning.

"Aeris used Eject on me!"

Cloud just smiles, an doubtful look on his face. "Now, Yuffie, why would Aeris do a thing like that?"

I scowl. "'Cause… 'cause, she wanted me to in here to see how Vinnie was doin', but I thought he wouldn't wanna be disturbed. 'Specially since he probably thinks I'm dangerous now!"

Vinnie stands up from the bed. "I don't think you're dangerous.. Perhaps a little impulsive?"

I gasp. "VINNIE! You're ALIVE!" I dash at him to glomp him, but Cloud holds me back.

"No glomping the broken person, Yuffie."

"Yah, sorry."

I decide that there isn't anything else to do here, so I head back into my room and sprawl out on the bed. Tifa and Aeris are next door, and I can hear them chatting enthusiastically about nothing. Sleepy…

Zzzzz…

Bzzt. Bzzt. Bzzt.

What's that?

Bzzt. Bzzt. Bzzt.

It's light in here! Damn… Someone, TURN OFF THE FRICKIN' SUN!

Bzzt. Bzzt. Bzzt.

Okay, okay! I'm comin'! I sit up in the bed and realize that the bed has been turned down and that the bedclothes are covering me. Huh. Looking around frantically, I spot the source of the evil buzzing sounds.

Alarm clock!

"DIEEEEEE!"

WHAMWHAMWHAMWHAMWHAM.

With all my incredible ninja might, I sock the dastardly, hell-bound clock with one of the flat hotel pillows.

"RARGH!"

CRACK.

The alarm clock cracks straight down the center and starts emitting faint clicking sounds. So much for that. The broken plastic screen reads, "7:32 AM". Who the hell wakes up this early?

Zzzzzzzzz….

A cave.. and some water.. Lotsa water! A BUTTLOAD OF WATER! So.. a waterfall… and a cave. Yes. Waterfall plus cave equals umm… Sixteen? I dunno.. I don' remember… I'm sorry, Chekhov… I don't know my multiplication tables today…

"I'm sorry, Chekhov… I don' know 'em…"

Shake, shuddup… You're an annoying pain in the ass…

"pain in the ass.."

-and I betcha three whole gil that you only crap on Sundays..

"crap on Sundays…"

-can't eat any more rice or my brains will squeeze out…

"brains will squeeze out.."

Vinnie, I don' want to fight the toads in the cave… Can't ya just take a machine gun and kill 'em all in one swell foop…

"swell foop…"

Knock knock.

Who's there?

Knock knock.

I said, who's there?

Knock knock.

"EEP!"

Vincent's muffled voice comes from the other side of the door. What a weird dream that was….

"Yuffie, wake up. There has been a problem with the Ropeway, so this would be a good time for you to play in the Saucer if you want to."

Rubbing my eyes vigorously to try and shake the sleep from them, I jerk the door open and yaaaaaawwwwwwwwnn.

"Why didja wake me up, then? Argh, silly vampire… casinos are for… for.. babies.." A strange sort of fatigue just washes over me like I've been drugged, and I collapse to the floor. A bit of nausea kicks in as well. What the heck is happening? I must be still sleeping…

"Yuffie!"

Whump.

I almost never black out. The only time I did was when Spike threw me down the stairs of Shinra Mansion and forced me to go into the creepy coffin room. I guess that wasn't the greatest first impression I could give Vinnie, but he doesn't really seem to care. He's a pretty cool guy.

Whoa!

Light pops in my eyes like millions of fireflies hovering around and attacking me. For some reason, I feel kinda heavy. And really warm, like I've been shoved into a cauldron over a fire. Except this cauldron is cushioned on the inside. And, oh gawd, do I wanna PUKE!

"b-bucket," I rasp, surprised at the dryness of my throat and lips. Silently, Vinnie brings me an empty basin, and I retch into the thing, filling it up with stuff that makes me feel sicker if I look at it.

"The medic came while you were out," says Vinnie quietly. I stare at my hands to avoid the piercing red eyes. They're kinda uncomfy to look at sometimes…

"What did they say?" I ask, digging out some gunk from under a fingernail. My hands feel awkward, like I haven't used them in months. Weird.

"A mild case of food poisoning."

"Mild?" I laugh a strange dry bark, foreign to my ears. "I feel like a frickin' turd."

"Yes, I imagine that you feel rather ill right now, but you will recover within the next few hours. The fever disappeared while you were asleep, and you're working on an empty stomach now that you've thrown up."

Fume. I wanted to go and play… "So, Dr. Vinnie, what time is it?"

He glances at the shattered alarm clock, raises an eyebrow, then moves into the kitchenette-thingy to check the microwave.

"5 PM."

Yay. I might still have enough time! And since the Ropeway is down, the Gold Saucer does something special for all the guests to make up for it. I wonder what they're doing? Free food might be nice… I think the hot dogs will be avoided, though.

Four hours later…

Yawwwwwwwwwwnnnnn! Wow. I actually feel normal. Weird. I felt like a chocobo pile earlier. Quickly, I change into my nice new clothes and abandon the room.

"Yo, Vin-nie! Wanna come play in the Gold Saucer with me?"

"Are you feeling well?"

Vincent emerges from his bedroom, wearing the same outfit as earlier. However, I do notice the reappearance of the usual metal belts around his waist. Heh.

I grin and do a twirl. "Sure! Feel like new."

He lays a wrist against my forehead anyway to feel the temperature. Sigh. Guess I shouldn't expect him to take MY word for anything now. His wrist is kinda cold. It's not like ice, but it's cool. Maybe he's a reptile.

"Hey, Vinnie? Are you a reptile?"

"No, I am not a reptile." He removes his wrist from my head. "Fine, go ahead, then."

I just stare at him. "You're not coming? Don't you wanna try out your new socks?" Those are hot socks.. They aren't TOE socks, but they're black, and they have a ring of spandex around the ankle. The rest of the sock is knit. And they have the Plutonian Cabbage logo on the soles. Yummy.

"You don't need me to accompany you for any reason."

"But I dooooo! It'll be more fun if I have a friend along, too! 'Cause if I just go alone, then I feel lonely with all the other families and groups around and stuff… So.." I grab his normal, non-painful hand and the doorknob. "Let's go!"

"Welcome to Enchantment Night! All the rides and games are free for this night only, and we are having a special show in Event Square! Only the one-hundredth couple gets to star in the play, and that couple might just be you!" The pink-clad greeter lady smiles widely as she gestures towards the Event Square tunnel.

"Guess what, Vinnie."

"What?"

"We're going to be the one-hundredth couple!" I drag a silently protesting Vinnie past the greeter lady and into the Event Tunnel.

"I'm sorry. You are couple number one-hundred one. Please join us again for our future shows!" It isn't a real person. It's a little machine with a sensor and a recording. Lame.

"Excuse me, young man."

Both mine and Vinnie's attention turns to a very elderly couple. The woman braces herself on a walker, her husband hobbling along as well. They smile amiably at us, and I can't help but feel heart warmed. Sweet old folks do that to me. Too bad my old man isn't sweet.

The old woman pipes up again.

"Well, you see, we were the one hundredth couple.. but I don't think we can do a play that well. So would you and your pretty girlfriend like to do it instead of us? It would be a big favor."

Vinnie just stares the poor old lady down with that creepily cold gaze. But she just keeps smiling. Suddenly, I squeak and grab onto Vinnie's sleeve.

"We'll do it, we'll do it!"

"Thank you, miss."

"Thank YOU!" I hop down towards the stage, Vinnie walking close behind me. Lucky for us, huh?

"And this must be our lucky couple!" A short, balding man in a fancy suit shoos us behind the stage into a tiny dressing room. "Don't worry, don't worry. The other actors will help you out so you don't mess up too bad. Just go and have fun." He then shoves a humongous, poofy dress into my arms, and a funny little prince's outfit, (complete with tights), at Vinnie, who drops it promptly onto the floor. And then, he shuts the door.

"Hehehehehe! Here, you can go behind that screen and change, and I'll wait out here and put this thing over my clothes.."

"Yuffie, I am not going to wear this costume."

My eyes pop. "But.. but the costumes are the most important part of cheesy plays like this!"

"……."

End of argument. Shoot.

Whee hee! Twirly twirly twirl! I love twirling. And it's just the thing to do to make a cute entrance in this play!

The narrator clears his throat, and off we go!

"Once upon a time the evil of Mega Tonberry spread throughout the land. The light emanating from his lamp was not a pure light, but a toxic light, poisoning the minds of those in the kingdom. The people began to relive their very worst nightmares, and the land was soon devoid of love and happiness. Only true love can possibly revive the kingdom and drive the evil Mega Tonberry away. But how can love be found in a place overcome by darkness? The beautiful Princess Lilypad might have the answer…"

And now, I twirl across the stage! WHEE! Okay.. stop… Yes! Didn't crash into anything.. this time.

"Oh!" I moan dramatically, raising both my arms in the air. "If only I could find my one true love, I could save my beloved kingdom! Won't you help, Sir Knight?"

"Yes, Princess! You shall have your true love." A rather scrawny actor clad in tights and a striped tunic bows and twirls offstage. As soon as the knight is gone, a guy in a plush Tonberry suit grabs me.

"EEEEEEEEEKKKKK!" I squeal with excessive gusto, and I notice several of the audience members wince.

"Princess Lilypad!" The knight twirls back on, dragging a rather surly Vinnie. "Your true love can save you and rescue our kingdom!"

The Tonberry laughs evilly. "I am invincible!" he booms, swinging his lantern on one arm, his other holding me as I squirm fakely. "No one can defeat me!"

"True love, sir!" says the knight, shoving Vinnie forward at me and the Tonberry. I think he's having some sort of… internal struggle. To admit his undying love for the gorgeous princess, or to stalk off the stage in a big huff, ruin the show, and prove that some things can bother him? Sheesh, the answer should be OBVIOUS! C'mon, the audience wants some action, Vinnie!

"Princess," says Vinnie very deliberately, "I love you." Hmm. Hahaha! HAHAHAHA! Eh. That sucked. It sounded like he was trying to force words out like a kid trying to force Play-doh through a strainer. Ah, oh well. Just a cheesy play. But that isn't all! The Mega Tonberry isn't banished yet!

Slowly, one foot in front of the other, eyes at his feet, Vinnie walks up to me and the Tonberry, then stops just so his foot touches the edge of my frilly pink gown. "I'm sorry," he whispers quickly, and my eyes get real wide as I realize what he's gonna do…

Twirl twirl twirl twirl….. CRASH!

Ow…

"Man, that play was sucky… But it was fun!" I chirp cheerfully, wandering around the entrance area to pick out a new tunnel. I wonder what 'Round Square' is? And… a square isn't a square if it's ROUND! Huh. I'll just hafta check that out, then…

"ROUND SQUARE! WOOTNESS!" I dive headfirst into this new pipe, and Vinnie follows with only a fifth exuberance as I did. Not headfirst, either. Aargh. Will he EVER loosen up? GAWD!

A gondola ride…

"Are you going to ride the Gondola this evening? It's Enchantment Night, so it's free!" The clerk beams at us.

I look at the gondola car and grin. Once, I heard about this ride. It shows you the entire Gold Saucer, but a lotta lovey dovey couples use it to make out and whatnot. Ick. But maybe I'll be able to get a good conversation in..

"Sure!"

The clerk ushers us onto the car and shuts the door behind us. "Have a wonderful time!"

Vinnie looks almost tired as he gazes out the window, eyes unfocused. I guess that play might've been a little much for him… He really musta had to force it back there. Prolly woulda snapped if he ended up having to wear the tights. I don't think he'd look very good in tights.

So goes the rest of the evening. Yuffie goes, Vinnie follows. Yuffie says something, Vinnie nods. Yuffie asks if Vinnie's brain is made of poop; he still nods. Yuffie finally gives up and goes back to the hotel, and Vinnie goes to bed _immediately_.

"Hey, Yuffie!"

I freeze in my tracks. It's Tifa. It's Tifa. And I shall not admit that she just scared the crap outta me. No. It's Tifa. How'd she get in?

As if reading my mind, she answers my question. "Well, the door was unlocked… And I wanted to congratulate you on what a great job you did at that play! It was.. hee hee hee hee… cuuuute."

I whip around. "You were there?"

She breaks into fits of giggles, and I blush. "Of course I was!" she gets out, giggling even harder. "I saw it, it was the cutest thing! When he came out with the knight, when he told you he loved you, when he ki-"

AAARGHH! I don't need to be reminded of that! It was embarrassing!

"Well, how did it feel?"

I frown at her. "Never mind that," I snap a little too irritably. "It was a play, we just followed the lines."

Tifa just sighs. "Yuffie-chan, sorry if I made you mad. Me and Aeris just.. want you to be happy, you know? I think I'll go to bed.. The Ropeway should be back up in the morning." Without even giving me a chance to apologize, she leaves and shuts the door behind her. Meep.. Now Tifa's mad at me… My life is like a bad teen-y soap opera.

And so ends my first real visit to the Gold Saucer.

Hope it's all better in the morning.

* * *

Whew, finally done! I had a great deal of fun writing this chapter, though I don't think it's the best. I just can't seem to make things flow as nicely as I'd like them to. Time is also hard to work with.. The first chapter moved extremely quickly up until Yuffie meets Vincent.. then it slowwwsss… I'm thinking that it's too slow now, and it needs to get farther in fewer words, but then I lose some of the details that I want. I will definitely work with that..

My summary needs changing? Right-o. I just need to think of one.. in the morning. Second day of Otakon is tomorrow, and my feet need rest. Or if anyone cares to help make a new one, that would be **awesome.**


	5. The Ancient

Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy VII or Legos.

The Materia Hunter: Fifth Chapter: The Ancient

* * *

Spike's eyes narrow suspiciously at the cat-topped mog that had been trailing behind him for the last hour and half. An uncomfortably thick atmosphere hovers over the entire group, no one knowing exactly what to think or do. Certainly, none of us had expected to discover that one of our own was a spy for the Shinra. And I, honestly, originally thought that Cait Sith should have been left at Gold Saucer, and that we shouldn't have let him remain, but then I remembered that I had been in the same situation only a few days ago. So, I kept my mouth shut. Still, now everyone seems to be doubly wary now that they know that they have a spy and a thief amongst them. I dunno. _I'm_ not worried about me. Heh heh. And I see no change in Vinnie, but he's kinda always on edge, I think.. Sheesh. Take a chill pill! In fact, have the chill injections, the chill tablets, and the chill vitamin beverage, too, while you're at it! Spike, too; he looks like he's gonna explode.. If Nanaki turns out to be an underground monster dealer, or somethin', I think Spike'll just take up that paddle-like sword of his and chop us all into lunchmeat… Shaved extra-thin, not sliced. And then he will put us on submarine sandwiches and share them with Sephiroth.

"So," he steams, his posture threatening death to all who cross, "the Temple of the Ancients is in this forest out in the middle of nowhere, and the fact that we haven't found it yet is pure coincidence."

"Yep…" replies Cait Sith warily, backing away ever so surreptitiously from the smolderingly angry Spike before him. "I swear! We must be lost, or some-urk…" The megaphone in the cat's hand begins to quiver as both mog and rider fearfully scoot backwards several feet. I've never seen Spike so angry, not even with me. But still, some of the others seem to be separating themselves from me and Cait Sith, like they want the 'reject pile' far away from them so we don't stink up their air. In fact, the only one that doesn't seem to show any open signs of extra wariness or dislike is Vinnie, who's walkin' in front of me as he always does. Weirdo. Cool weirdo, though.

Somehow, someway, we've made it to the steps of this giant pyramid-thing. We're all kinda worn out, though.

"Well then," says Spike, voice still low and growl-y with anger and evilness, "I guess we'll go on ahead, then. Aeris will go, of course, and I think I would also like.."

A pregnant pause hovers over us all. Gawd, why isn't he just saying, "Tifa," like he always does? And we can all be stuck out here, torturing random leaves and sticks for entertainment.

"Vincent. Come on, we need to see if we can recover the Keystone and catch Sephiroth."

Vinnie narrows his eyes slightly and brushes past, the corner of his cloak catching for a second on my ankle. Hmph. Damn lucky Vinnie. Why does the creepy vampire-man get to go? Argh… oh well… I grab a fat green leaf off the bottommost step and twirl it in my fingers. Let the nature-torture begin.

"Hey, Tifa?"

Tifa looks up from a twig she had been in the process of breaking into segments. "Yep?"

"I'm sorry if I made you mad last night… But I was wondering.. uhhmm.. Could you… fill me in?" I ask, shredding my leaf and feeling the green wetness leak onto my fingers. "I mean, I'm kinda lost.. I only caught a couple things earlier.. The Keystone lets you into the Temple, right? But why did Cait Sith steal it for the Shinra? Do they want something in there?" My questions are genuine, no ulterior motives behind them. Heh. I'm either becoming mentally unstable or I'm.. shudder… _growing up._ Damn. I must be hangin around with Vinnie too much.. He looks around twenty-five or so, but sometimes, I can see this cranky eighty-year old senile hermit shining through. I should start hovering around Aeris and Tifa more often.. Sure, they LOOK old enough, but Aeris has the heart of a seven year-old, and Tifa gossips and giggles like a preteen.

"Well.." begins Tifa, eyes lowered as she reminisces. "Shinra is looking for a Promised Land. They believe that this land is full of Mako Energy. I honestly have no idea what exactly is inside the Temple of the Ancients, but it must have something that both Shinra and Sephiroth want."

"Wait a sec.. Sephiroth, you mean that evil guy with the silvery hair?"

Tifa smiles, her eyes crinkling, but I can see something relative to pain in them. "Sephiroth, Cloud, and I have a history together. It's only a small memory, but it's vital to all of this.. Sephiroth…" She tightens her fist and hunches together slightly. "Sephiroth killed my dad, see..? And he tried to kill Cloud, too. Something seems off.. but.. Hey, don't tell Cloud what I'm gonna tell now you, kay? It's just that Cloud.. I can't remember him fighting Sephiroth that day that we all went to the reactor together. But if they did fight, Cloud should be dead…"

"Whoa, confusing! So is Spike lying about something?"

"I don't know. I don't know what to think anymore.. But we have to get Sephiroth sooner or later, no matter what the past is really."

The loud crack of a gunshot sounds almost right beneath my butt, and I jump in surprise. I guess they must be below us right now? Hahaha.. I'm sitting on Vinnie! Deciding to be annoying, I stand and hop up and down as hard as I can on the stone step. Tifa gives me a confused look before realization dawns on her, and she giggles.

The PHS rings.

"Hello?" Tifa answers the mobile phone. "Wha? I don't hear anything.. Hey, wait. Did it sound like-? Ah! Hahaha. Okay, don't worry about it. See ya!"

Beep.

"Was that Spike?" I ask, plopping myself back down on the hard steps.

"Yeah. He says to stop jumping around up here. It gave all them a scare. Seems that it's a whole lot louder down there. Funny. It almost seems like they've shrunk, or something."

"Ahhh, that's creepy, Tifa. So, yeah! I've been meaning to ask you. Why was Vinnie- er… Vincent in a coffin?" Tifa raises an eyebrow as the name, "Vinnie" comes out. Whoops. I so didn't mean to say that. Crap.

"Hee hee hee. Well, "Vinnie" was in the coffin because of some mad experiments that Professor Hojo did on him. That's why he's… different, you know? Yeah, well, he says that he has to "atone for his sins", but I really don't know what he did that was so bad. Maybe he killed someone while in his other form, or something like that?"

My eyes grow very large. Other form? Vincent? Ehhhh?

"O-other.. form?"

Tifa sighs. "I keep forgetting, you seem to miss everything.. While we were going out of the Shinra Mansion, and you were unconscious, we were attacked by a group of Funny Faces. One of them went after Vincent, and he.. well… had a transformation. He said it happens whenever they're feeling angry, and then the beast surfaces. Anyway, this is what Hojo did to him. He turned Vincent into a monster.."

By now, my jaw is slack and my eyes are the size of matching platters.

"Eh-wh-uugh-mehhh?"

To pass away the time, we wander around in the nearby jungle and beat up random monsters. By the thirty-seventh group of Toxic Frogs/Jemnezmy, my right shoulder starts hurting from the strain of throwing my shuriken, then the impacting shock of catching it. I'd start doing hand-to-hand about now, but I dunno if my shit-blasted shoulder would let me. Damn.

"Wh-whoaa!" A tremor rocks the earth, and Cait Sith falls off his mog.

"What was that?"

"#$!&ing earthquake, that's what the #&#$ it is! #&!$!"

Somehow, I keep my balance. Was that Spike and Co? I look down, as if I expected to see them waving at me. Man, I MUST be getting old. I'm getting stupider, that's for sure. And now, I'm getting delusional! Cause I can hear 'em talkin' up here, clear as day!

"-a series of puzzles. You have to solve each one, and once you solve them all, you can take the Black Materia out. But the Temple itself is the materia. So the Temple shrinks each time you solve a puzzle, and you shrink with it! So it's impossible for us to get it out.."

"Did you all hear that?" Tifa's hushed voice breaks through in a pause during their conversation. We all give her a severe look, expecting more, but there is none. Wow, so it's not just me..

Cait Sith pulls out his PHS and dials. I look over at him, a doubtful expression on my face. What's he plannin' to do?

"Hi Cloud! I overheard the whole thing! You can use my stuffed body to take the Materia out if you want to."

"Wait, are you sure?" Spike's voice comes not from the phone, but from right below our feet, and we can all hear the conversation perfectly.

"Sure! Even if my stuffed body dies, my real body is still safe."

"cheater.." mutters Barret. We all turn to glare at him now, and he just shrugs.

Spike's voice comes again after a long silence and some whispering that I can't hear. "We'll meet you at the exit.."

"Yup. Bye, Cloud!"

Goodbye… for good..?

Umaaaaaaaghhh, it's that evil sick feeling again.. Not the disgusting sick that I get on ships, but this deep down sick feeling.. I mean, c'mon! Cait Sith is a nuisance! He has a stupid voice, and he's annoying and he's a spy, and he's a FREAKIN' CAT PLUSHIE WEARING A CAPE! And he rides a giant stuffed MOG! How can you call something like that a friend?

"Oh, gawd, I'm gonna lose a friend."

The sick feeling worsens as we proceed towards the back end of the Temple. We descend some steps and go to open the heavy double doors that lead to the inner sanctum when…

"Hey… it's warm.."

The door roars.

Okay, not expecting that.

I leap backwards with my shuriken in my hand within an instant. Hm. Becoming old hasn't addled my reflexes. Whew, a relief.. A writhing tail, the same color of the stone doors appears in the wall. The head is obviously on the other side.. and.. there it is. Bang. Vinnie's gunshot. Ya know, it's funny. It's becoming a trademark "Vinnie sound". Okay, so maybe it's the ONLY "Vinnie sound", but I thought it was better than ". . ." Hehe.

"Damn it! Aeris, heal us!"

Clang.

"What about Vincent?"

"We'll both be dead if you stop to revive him now!"

My stomach drops a couple feet as the sounds of battle continue to come from the other side of the wall. I'm so gonna slice off this thing's ass…

"HIYAA!" I lunge blindly at the thick, waving appendage, my weapon outstretched. Instead of throwing it like I usually do, I use it more like a blade since the range is so close. I guess this is an advantage to the more boomerang-y types, but I prefer traditional shurikens, actually. The Wind Slash makes a nice, even gash in the tail, earning a earthshaking bestial roar from the beast on the other side of the wall. Expertly, I leap back far enough to be considered long range and hurl the weapon back at the back end of the monster. Tifa and the others scramble away to avoid the Wind Slash's cutting momentum, and its aim is true as it slices straight through the tail, effectively cutting the entire thing off and implanting itself in the door. Nice. And that's what I call.. Greased Lightning! Dumbfounded, the others simply stand there, and I snap at them. "What are you just standing there for? Vincent is over there unconscious, and you're just lazing around!" Snapping their butts into gear, they nod and enter the fray. Nanaki dashes past, injuring the stub of flesh that was once a tail further. Bullets spray all over the place, and we all squeak and hit the deck when Barret decides to get crazy. And on the other side, Spike and the others are seriously freaking out because the door is crying out so much. I snatch my weapon out and catapult backwards off the door as Cid comes flying in yelling some weird mix of curse words and battle cries. Spear pierces tail and the entire wall explodes, sending Cid and the rest of us flying. Chunks of gore and yucky gross crap stuff rain down. They turn into bits of limestone before they hit the ground. Bizarre…

"You guys alright?" Spike seems to have calmed down considerably since I last saw him, and despite the battle wounds, he'd lookin' pretty tranquil. Aeris is crouched down beside Vinnie, who's sitting on the floor. The green materia glow surrounds them, and I can see some of the pain disappear from him. As soon as that's finished, Cait Sith bounds forward. Sigh.. Here we go.. Bye Cait Sith. Always thought you were my number one opposition in bein' the most annoying on this team, but I'll miss ya anyway…

"How about you tell our fortunes? Hmm.. Let's see how compatible Cloud and I are!"

My eyes goggle out of their sockets. Aw, come on, Aeris, you can think of something better to say than that…

….Fortune telling dance….

"Oh.. Sorry Tifa.. but.. You and Cloud are perfect for each other! Aeris' star and Cloud's star! I'll be your matchmaker, preacher, anything… Just, don't forget me, kay? Here I go!"

With a blush on her face, Aeris still manages to giggle. "Be strong, Cait Sith!"

Whooooo.. it's a mini black pyramid! This SO can't be Materia.. It looks like a Lego! But Spike pockets it anyway and begins to climb back up when..

A single strand of insanely long silver silk caresses my cheek and a flash of something tall and black passes right in front of me. A pair of inhuman blue-green eyes penetrate my brain, delivering a single word message to my suddenly dulled mind.

Die.

Man, if looks could kill, that'd be a one hit KO for sure. As he sweeps past, he mutters in a low, deep voice, something… to me? EEP.

"Go home, you are young, and perhaps I shall not destroy you. Now don't get in the way."

RRRRRR! That arrogant, little, (okay, not so little), JERK! I'm the Great Materia Hunter Yuffie! And.. heh.. umm, my great, materia-hunting mind is tellin' me to stay still right now… Heh heh…eh..

"No chance, Sephy."

MEEEEEEEEPP. Oh-my-GAWD, I SO DID NOT JUST SAY THAT. I AM SO GONNA BE JULIENNED!

I cringe and hold my arms up to my face, waiting for that cold, steely, LONG, scary, shiny, LONG, dangerous, lethal, LONG, and did I mention LONG sword to come through the top of my head, but it doesn't. Instead, as I warily raise my eyes to sneak a peek, he smirks, and.. umm.. vanishes… Not kidding. F-f-f-f-f-freak… P-p-p-p-permanent s-s-s-s-stutter. S-s-s-sooo f-f-freakin' s-s-scary…

Sephiroth… umm…. heh.. flies into the crater where the Temple had been to meet Spike. His sword is out now, and I recognize it as a Wutaian sword, actually. It's the Masamune, the only one in existence. All those stories about the leaves and stuff are false, but it's still probably the most powerful long sword in the world. My dad used to tell me a story about a dude named Masamune, and how he was a Wutaian swordsmith. He made the Masamune sword right before he died, or something, and gave up his life to make it powerful. Weirdo. Who would give up their life to make a sword powerful for SOMEONE ELSE to use, especially someone with long silver hair, scary, murdering eyes, and the ambition to destroy everything? Ewwwww.

Okay, so Sephiroth goes down into giant crater. Spike gives evil black materia to Sephiroth, Sephiroth vanishes. Wait.. Somethin's not right here. Spike-gives-evil-black-materia-to-Sephiroth…

SHIT.

Man, what the hell? I jump into the pit, one ledge at a time, as Spike goes completely wacko. What the hell, what the hell, what the HELL? He's beating up Aeris! Is this not Cloud? WHAT THE HELL? He gave Sephiroth the materia!

"Cloud, snap OUT OF IT!" My fist swings at his jaw and I feel it snap with the impact, and he topples to the ground, unconscious. Alright. What-the-hell-is-going-on-here?

We make our way to Gongaga on the Tiny Bronco. No one makes a peep, not even the "new and improved!" version of Cait Sith sent to us by our resident spy. Within about an hour, we're in the village inn, and Spike lays completely out of it on a bed.

"-take care of Sephiroth. You don't have to worry about it anymore. I can do it."

I look over to see Aeris deep in concentration over something, and muttering about taking care of Sephiroth…?

"Hey, Aeris? What are you doing?"

She jumps a little in her chair, clearly startled. "Oh! Sorry, Yuffie, it's nothing." Her eyes lower to her lap. "I'm.. going to have to leave here soon, you know."

I blink. "Leave? Why?"

"There's a place that I need to go to… a place that's called me for a very long time.." Aeris' voice holds not even a hint of a giggle, and I'm beginning to get a little frightened.

"W-Well, then we can all go together once Cloud is up!" I stutter hastily, barely noticing the shadow of a smile grace Aeris' lips.

"No… This is something I have to do by myself. Cloud knows... knows how important this is.. He'll understand… I have to go… It might already be too late. Now is the best time." She stands up rather abruptly. Comparing her to a sleeping Vinnie in the corner, their shade of skin looks exactly the same: pale as death. What is going on?

"Goodbye, Yuffie. Say goodbye to the others as well, and Cloud…" Aeris takes one long look at the slumbering man, and quickly, kneels by him and presses his hand to her cheek. "Don't be afraid. I will prepare everything."

Time froze over, and the next thing I knew, she was gone.

"Hey, kid. Where'd Aeris go?" Two hours after that little event, everyone else had woken up and were milling about the makeshift inn. Cid grabs a cigarette from the pack stuck to his head, lights it, and sticks it in his mouth. He's gonna kill himself with those one day…

"She said she had to go somewhere, I think."

"$&, well didn't she say where? Spill it, brat, we ain't got no time to waste. Spike's getting' restless, sayin' that girl's gone off and gotten into somethin' dangerous."

I turn away from Mr. Smokestack and pout. "Well, she wouldn't tell me. Nyeh." Aeris' parting had left me in a curiously glum mood. In fact, I haven't felt like myself since Gold Saucer. Ugh… Without Aeris though, everything's lacking this weird happy light... like the giggling and the constant "friend to go to". It feels downright insecure.

"We need to go north, to Bone Village."

No one objects.

A strange aura surrounds the entrance to the forest at the far end of the tiny village. After speaking with a few of the diggers that work here, Spike reveals that we gotta excavate some Loony Heart or somethin' to get to where we gotta be. Within several hours of bated breath and several hours of deafening explosions, a small, dusty gold lute lays at Spike's feet. He stares at it for a minute and picks it up, saying nothing.

With the Planet by your side, we will do anything… 

Wha?

Come, friends, we will help you. Enter the shade of our branches, and we shall protect you within them.

Oh-my-gawd, the trees are talking.

And off we go.

The forest is so dense, and very small amounts of light reach the ground. But the light that does is very pure, like the leaves of the trees filter corruption, or somethin' like that. Wow, how poetic. Fits Vinnie perfectly.

Even though it seemed impossible, we reach the end of the woods in only about fifteen minutes. A single red orb bounces of its own accord right in front of us. Materia..?

"KYAA!"

Instinctively, I dive for the shiny-ness of the lovely red Materia. Grasping it tightly in two hands, the orb shudders for a moment, trying to escape, and then lies still. Weird… I've never seen a Materia before that does… that. Creepy!

"Kujata summon." Despite the sets of eyes staring at me like I've got a leech attached to my face, I determine the Materia's type and entity. A bull leers at me in the darker nucleus of the red orb, and I grin at it. Mine!

Almost grumpily, Spike motions for us to continue. I trot up beside Vinnie and smirk. I found it, so it's mine. Heh heh.

"Perplexing. This place feels very.. strange… to me."

Wow, he said something of his own accord! I knew I was rubbing off on him!

"Strange? Why? Makes ya wanna pee, or somethin'?"

Vinnie gives me a look before his eyes move back to the path. "No. It feels very… hollow. This light.. It feels like it's taken something out of me. Something sinister, but familiar. But no light.. can really cure it, I suppose."

I blink. "Wh-what, Vinnie? I don't get it at all! Are you talking about the monsters?"

Suddenly, I feel like something very hard and sharp has sliced through my skull as Vinnie gives me the coldest, inhuman glare he has ever given me. I shudder involuntarily and look at my shoes. That's two "instant death" glares in two days. They take at LEAST ten years off my life, I swear..

"How do you know about that?" His voice doesn't match his eyes. The words come out soft and more gentle than I expected, permitting me to look back up at his face, like any good listener should. His gaze has changed, something akin to sadness lingering there now.

"Uh, Tifa told me. Hey, Vinnie, what's the matter?"

In a sort of numbingly unreal haze, we make it into an abandoned ruin of what seems to be a city. It's a weird sort of place, and a lot of the homes are made of gigantic shells. The light here is so pure that it almost seems sterile, but since it's warm and wavery, I guess I can't really describe it like that. Cloud clearly wants to go chasing after Aeris, but it's getting really late, and I-I-I-I wanna go to bed… A huge yawn escapes me, and then one after the other, everyone else yawns as well. Yawning's contagious, ya know.

"We should rest for the night, I suppose". Cloud sounds severely troubled at this, as a sort of tenseness settles over us all. I can sense that there's no time to waste.. Why would Aeris be in danger here? I immediately snap out of my reverie, though, when we arrive at a shell house with several beds lined up.

"Wow! I can't believe we found such a soft bed in a dive like this!" I flop myself on the nearest mattress, and sure enough, it's soft as feathers. Spike glares at me before sinking down uneasily on another bed.

"'Night everyone!"

"'Night."

"G'night."

"Good night."

"Just #&!$ing sleep already!"

Morning arrives quicker than I'd like it to, and that freakishly pure light comes shining through my eyelids. Something seems different… a voice?

"Aeris' voice? Coming from there?"

Spike's entire body is stiff as a board and huge shadows line the bottoms of his eyes. Urk..

Something like a feeling, not words, emanates from the very walls. Some feeling that's unfamiliar, taking shape in Aeris' voice. Sort of asking… pleading… begging? A song, begging for something sought. A strangely earthly, organic feeling rises up in a different voice, but it's not as tangible as Aeris' voice.. not that a voice is tangible, of course, but you know what I mean. Can't hear it, only feel it.

Leviathan is that you? No, you'd feel more like the ocean, wouldn't you? Gaea? That is you. You're singing alongside Aeris, asking, pleading, begging…

"We're leaving. Hurry up, Yuffie."

I scurry from the shell house into that oppressively clean light, but it's thick with something else today.

Foreboding.

Oh, GAWD, I'm turning into VINNIE! All this dumb crap about tangible voices and Gaea singing and light thick with foreboding…

Yup, definitely Vinnie. Man, he rubbed off on me! HE'S STEALING MY YOUTH! STEALING MY YOUTH!

"VINNIE, YOU JERK, YOU'RE STEALING MY YOUTH!"

He looks back at me, eyebrow raised. "What are you talking about?"

"Vinnie, I've found you out! You-you're a vampire! And YOU SUCK OUT YOUTH!"

"What?"

"YOUTH SUCKER!"

"What?"

After that incredible discovery of mine, we venture into the largest shell building in the middle. A twisting flight of crystal stairs spirals down gently into a city made completely of glass. The "tangible voices" are really strong here. I'm so gonna have a headache later… And I'll definitely laugh next time I hear Aeris singing in the shower. I'll yell, "Aeris, your voice is TAN-GI-BLE!" She won't get it, but I'll be in hysterics. Hopefully Vinnie won't have sucked all the life out of me by then.

You know I'm joking about that "youth sucker" thing, right? Good. Though I wouldn't be surprised if he WAS a vampire… creepy thoughts..

So here we are, at the edge of a pool of clear water. Aeris prays in a gazebo thingy across the water, a line of stepping-stones leading to it. Placing one foot on the shining stone, Spike motions for us all to follow, and then he begins jumping.

I follow silently, lost in my "tangible voice" daydream.

And those real tangible voices sing on, louder, and louder, and louder…

Abruptly, they stop. My head snaps up to meet Aeris' tranquil face.

Something silver and black flashes overhead.

* * *

I'm so sorry that this chapter is shorter, I've been busy like hell. Believe it or not, I started working on this back when I was on vacation- two whole months ago! I never thought it would take me this long to update! But my grades haven't been so pretty lately because I got sick and when you get sick, you get behind, etc, etc, bet you all know how that goes, right? Yuffie is slowly drifting out of character. She's becoming more serious, ne? I've been trying to cover this up for some time, but it's honestly not supposed to be this way. I suppose that this particular part of the game doesn't harbor Yuffie's amusing attitude very well. Hopefully it'll be back to normal soon, but after the next chapter, I'm not sure if Yuffie will ever be like she was, right? Heh… Yuffie-chan's growing up. 


	6. History

If you haven't noticed, I have two other stories out. However, I don't like either of them nearly as much as this one. Hee hee hee. I wish I could update faster… Ohh… the writers block…..

Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy VII!

* * *

The Materia Hunter: Sixth Chapter- History

* * *

One photograph flutters to rest at the bottom of the bloodstained lake. Her adoptive mother. Another skims lightly over crystalline waters, peacefully. Her birth mother and father, smiling like the happiness would never end. One last picture, depicting the image of a dark haired youth with a sword just like Cloud's, his arm around the shoulders of a teenaged flower girl, drifts alongside the others. 

Singing, singing, in two angelic voices. An angel with one wing smiles into her hair and crushes her heart with his eyes through the chill in his sword.

And then… the fight… Numbed by the tears we are forced to bite back, won by the revenge we wish to seek.

But that one winged angel still smiles, and the flower girl sinks along with those photographs to the bottom of a lake, resting place of her ancestors.

"Head north, over the Snow Fields… Jenova's Reunion beckons… puppet."

Cloud just stands there in the shallow part of the water, staring at where Aeris' body had been seconds before, a hollowed look lingering in his eyes. Tifa sits on the edge of the lake, tears flowing freely. I know she loved Aeris, like a sister would. Me too…

Cid smokes one cigarette after the other, barely taking the time to put a finished one out before stuffing another into his mouth. He doesn't say anything, but I guess there isn't any need to. Barret sits trembling, fist tightened over frightfully clean soil. He's angry…

Cait Sith is completely dormant. Is his controller back at Shinra crying? Or just sitting? Laughing? If he is, I wish to bash his head in with the flat part of my shuriken and cram his brains into a carton, then ship it off to Shinra HQ. This is all their fault… Aeris wouldn't have died, Wutai wouldn't be a load of commercialized shit, Mom would be alive, and hell, I'd have a chance at being normal. It's all their fault… For everything.

Vincent stands at my side, long black lashes low over his eyes. Is he ashamed to show that he doesn't feel anything? Does he feel anything? Then again, Tifa's the only one.. that's crying. I'm just here. I'm just here, and I'm gonna be here until that one winged angel comes back so I can show him that leather isn't going to protect his ass from having the point of my weapon shoved up it.

She's gone. Aeris is gone, dead, kicked the bucket. And I didn't do anything. Me, with the shuriken to throw at distances, didn't do ANYTHING!

Those long strands of quicksilver fan out behind him as he descends, sword pointed downward. Spike, the hell are you just standin' there for, move your ass and get her out of there!

_His shadow projects ominously on the gazebo wall, and I gasp as a single dark wing sprouts from his back. But he doesn't have a wing. His shadow does?_

_Almost dreamlike, a long length of steel sword cleaves effortlessly straight through her abdomen, and I scream, as if I was the one being stabbed. She doesn't make a sound, though, as her torso bends forward over the blade. Her strength wanes, and she falls to the floor as Sephiroth withdraws the blade gracefully and casts a cold, yet strangely fond smile onto the fallen girl. Almost imperceptible, I can hear him whisper,_

"_Become one with me, Cetra."_

Hot tears begin to roll down my cheeks, and I swipe at them furiously. Many people I've loved have died. So many… And one thing I've learned is to spill all your tears at once, then move forward. Aeris' wish.. To save the Planet. We have to do it ourselves, now. I think I finally understand it all. I understand it. And I didn't even have to ask. But.. We don't have time for many tears.

"V-Vincent? L-let's go. We go north, r-right? Let's j-just go."

He looks down at me, lashes still low. The red glow is softened now, and he looks more normal, I guess…

"Are you sure?" His voice is soft as well, but still stoic. "Cloud and the others will want us to wait for them."

I shake my head. "C-Cloud always g-goes ahead of us, b-but we c-can't?" I take a deep, shuddering breath and swallow the rest of my tears and sobs. "Well, that's bull crap! I'm going ahead, even if you don't wanna! I'm gonna DO something!" For some reason, I get so angry after crying…

"I shall accompany you, you shouldn't be on your own. Wait while I inform Cloud." A swish of crimson cape, and he goes to the man at the lake. Vincent is cool.. I think he understands me, even if I don't understand him, or myself sometimes.

Gingerly, I place a toe on the first rung of a spiraling ladder made of a giant conch shell. Vincent is already ahead, having leapt impossibly gracefully up the ladder to reach a cavern entrance on the other side.

"Do you need assistance, Yuffie?"

I shake my head furiously and gulp down another wave of tears. A draft of cool air brushes my wet cheeks, and suddenly, I'm aware of how cold it is.

"Vinnie, what's the date?" I whisper as I leap off the last rung onto the platform leading to the cave.

He blinks as he digs up a date. "It's November twentieth, I believe."

Fresh tears spill down my face and I use the wrist of my soiled orange glove in an attempt to banish them. Today's my birthday…

We climb to the top of the cavern and reach the exit. When I go through the opening, a blast of snowy air rushes at me through an endless plain of snow. The Snow Fields? As I contemplate this, the tears on my face freeze, leaving a thin crust of white ice against my bare skin. Great.

"Yuffie, you have ice on your face." Vincent strides towards me and rubs at the tear-sicles on my cheeks. Frowning when they don't melt, he pulls off his glove. I don't think I've really ever seen his bare hand before, strangely. It's pretty insignificant, just pale skin like the rest of him, and freakishly long fingers, like a pianist's.

"There."

"Thanks, Vinnie."

We trudge along in silence, which isn't a stranger to Vincent, but it makes me feel awkward. Devoid of any chatter or random sights to distract me, I begin to focus on my footsteps, double lines of small hollows in the endless white, Vincent's alongside them. I notice how his are slightly differently shaped and larger, but more shallow as if he doesn't put a lot of weight on his feet before taking another step. Mine are deep and sneaker-shaped, occasionally scuffled up from the dragging of my frozen feet. Snow seeps through the material of my shoes, but I don't really care. It's better than Aeris who can't feel anything… now…

"Look, you can see the town." Vincent actually takes in the initiative in a conversation for once as he looks off towards the lights in the distance.

"Hey, yeah.." My voice sounds strangely raspy from the cold dryness of the air. However, a slight bit of hopeful anticipation rises up in my gut, and I feel a bit warmer.

Within about fifteen minutes, we reach the small town of Icicle. I wonder where it got its name… haha, no, just kidding. The eaves of the buildings are frozen over, elegant icicles dangling over their edges adding a crystalline shine to the glitter of fresh snow piled on rooftops. I don't even notice as I drag myself up the stairs of the local inn and sink down onto a bed. However, my feet begin to prickle uncomfortably, signaling that they're not frozen after all. Leaving behind my modesty and whatnot, I peel off my wet clothes, toss them to the floor, and then wrap myself in one of the thick wooly blankets stacked in the closet.

"Yuffie."

I turn around after bundling up to face Vincent, who sits on his bed. "Don't tell me you were watching," I mumble almost imperceptibly.

He shakes his head. "Of course not. Sit over here."

I gain a confused look as I sit on my bed, opposite his. Bad time to start opening up to everyone, right as we all want to curl up and cry our eyes out. Bad time to start opening up to me, half-frozen and a wet, teary mess on a bed, wrapped in a blanket in the middle of northern nowhere.

"What?" I somehow manage to say, hugging my knees and adjusting the blanket to cover my entire self, leaving only my head exposed.

Vincent shifts a bit as he removes his cloak, heavy with water and unmelted snow. "You need to focus yourself," he says as he walks over to the bathroom to hang it to dry. "Would you like me to hang your clothes up?"

I stare at him furiously. Omigawd, FOCUS? FOCUS? This is… this is…

"YOU'RE NUTS, VINNIE!"

He comes back over, but sits next to me on the bed. "I just asked you if you wanted your clothes hung," he says in a knowing tone, adding a strange sort of double meaning. "But if you think that they'll dry better on the floor, I won't touch them."

I sniffle loudly and lay my forehead against my blanketed knees. "Like I'd want you touching my unmentionables, anyway." The tears start coming again, and now I feel ashamed. Stupid Vinnie. Why is it that he gets to sit there all polite and quiet, and I have to sit here and bawl like a baby?

"D-damn you, Vinnie… Damn… y-you…"

He doesn't move, but I can feel him looking at me. Even though he doesn't say anything, I know he _pities_ me. Me. I'm a ninja, ninja's aren't supposed to be pitied. Ninjas are supposed to be cool and collected, stealthy and sneaky, and sharp as the kunai knives they hold. Ninjas aren't supposed to need anyone. We're numerous and disposable. The perfect fighters to get the job done, and we feel no sadness or remorse. Ninjas are supposed to be… freaks.

"Hey, Vinnie?"

"?"

"Why didn't you cry?"

"What are you talking about?"

"D-Don't you miss Aeris? Wasn't she always kind? Why don't you cry for her?"

By now, my shoulders are shaking with the tension of suppressed sobs added to a sudden welling up of anger. He doesn't cry, he doesn't hafta be ashamed, he has no emotion, what is this?

"Damn you, Vincent, WHY DON'T YOU CRY ALREADY?" I bolt upright and grasp him by the shoulders, trying to shake something other than that deadpan shit he's always lettin' on.

But his face remains stony, even as I begin to sob into his shirt.

"Damn you… Vincent."

Seconds pass, and we stay in this position, me leaning against him like I would against a wall, him sitting there just like…. a wall… But even though he's an emotionless, stone cold, perhaps zombie-fied freak, he's still human. And he's awful comfy to lean against right now…

Dammit, whenever I wanna blush, I don't blush, and whenever I don't wanna blush, I turn into Yuffie the Humanoid Beet. Blushing would be good right now. Blushing makes you feel warm. And I still can't feel the tips of my fingers. Also, Vinnie's metal claw thingy is cold. Even through the blanket. Man, this place is cold, even with fires and heaters, etc…

But it doesn't matter anymore, does it? Aeris, why did you hafta die?

"Why did you hafta die….? Aeris…"

Vincent shifts against me, then stands up to sit back down on his bed. I sigh lightly and lean backwards to fall into the pillows. Everything feels so unreal. It feels like I've been shoved out of childhood straight into the blandness of adulthood. I felt completely different yesterday, alive and happy and laughing, but today… It's like.. a bit of me just disappeared and left behind something that isn't Yuffie at all. Hard to explain…

"We're just slaves… to fate." Vincent rests his elbows on his knees, leaning forward to meet my eyes. "There is a reason for everything. Everything…"

I sit up abruptly and shake my head. "But, no! We coulda done something, we coulda! There was enough time, enough time to save Aeris… Why did we just stand there and let her die?"

His gaze is soft, but his voice is hard. Harder than usual, is he trying to hide?

"We cannot fight fate. She died… she was taken perhaps as a lesson to us, or to punish those who relied too heavily on her. Even in death, all beings have purpose. But…"

"But Aeris wasn't SUPPOSED to die! She was supposed to be with us until the end and fight Sephiroth with us! She was gonna save the Planet with us, she probably wanted it more than anyone, but.. but… Damn, it was just snatched out from right under her nose! She must hate us now, we didn't help her at all when we were the only ones who coulda done anything! GAWD, why are we SO useless? Press the reset button! Let's start over! When didja last save the game, I want a redo!" Anguished, I try my best to not fly at Vinnie right there and start beating on him. Oh gawd…

A long pause hangs in the air before Vinnie responds. And what he says is so mean and cruel and awful, but what's really so shittin' horrid about it is that it's true.

"I… cannot console you, Yuffie. Doing so would be a disservice to you."

"Fine." I sniffle wetly and bury my face into the pillow, not caring about getting it covered in tears and snot. "Let me rot away over here. I'll turn into Yuffie, the Icicle Vamp, minus the freaky coffin and sexy claw. And then we'll be the same."

"You will do no such thing." He gets up with a slight creaking of bedsprings and goes across the room to the door. "We'll need supplies for the journey ahead. Rest here, I will return later with the things we need."

Jerk. He might as well have told me, "Whatever, I don't care that you're crying and miserable, and don't worry, Aeris is better off dead anyway, and oh, by the way, I like to boil baby bunny rabbits alive. Now wait here and marinate in your own trivial problems and self pity while I go stuff my face." Except in less words. And, so maybe he's NOT gonna go stuff his face, but it makes a nice touch.

But he's still right. It pisses the hell outta me… he's right… Comforting someone only makes them shove the issue to the back of their mind so it can come back later to bite them in the ass. I just hafta deal with this on my own… Always on my own. But what if I can't? New tears well up in the corners of my eyes, soaking into the already wet pillow. I dunno how to do this… When Mom died, I was too young to even think about it much. All I remember is what she looked like and how much her death changed old man Godo. But now, what do I do? What if I can't climb back out of this?

It's because you really could have saved her.

I could have…

But you didn't.

I don't want to be like this forever, but is this repentance? I can't just go on like before, it would be so wrong. I owe it to her, to Aeris. If ya look at it, it was partly my fault she died… I didn't do anything to stop it from happening. Can I really live like myself again?

"I promise, I'll make it up to you. Promise."

An hour later, I find myself lying down and staring at the ceiling, counting the dots. Ninety-four…

"I'm back."

"Hey." My voice sounds really empty and frail. Guess it's all that crying.

"Umm, Vinnie?"

"?"

"Can I talk to you for a minute?"

He walks over and sits next to my right arm.

"I just… can't help but think it's my fault, Vinnie. See, if I'd thrown my shuriken as he was comin' down on Aeris, it might've thrown him off, given her time to run-"

"Stop." For the first time, Vincent looks scared. His eyes are wide and his lips are set in a line. Freaky.

"It was no one's fault. Sephiroth would have killed her, no matter what anyone did." He says this abnormally quickly as he brings his unemotional persona back up to his face. "Never blame yourself for what happened."

"Well, why not?" I gain the "bratty contradicting kid voice" back. "Sounds like something you'd do; wanting to blame yourself for everything."

He slumps his shoulders, something I've never seen him do, not even in exhaustion. "It was my fault that time. I have every right to blame myself. It was my punishment… the atonement for my countless sins."

Bewildered, I look up into Vinnie's solemn face, now only showing the tiniest traces of the fear from before.

"What?"

He shakes his head slightly, but more in sorrow than in refusal. "I was young and stupid. Twenty-seven years old, a Turk working in the Peace Preservation segment of the young, but quickly growing ShinRa Company. Back then, they had only recently discovered the use of Mako energy. It appeared that much of their funding went towards the building of Mako Reactors set all about the Planet. But another big recipient of their profit was in their Science Department, to Professors Gast and Hojo. They had recently discovered a life form in the vicinity of Mount Gaea. It was codenamed Jenova."

My eyes widen slightly at the recognition of the name. That's the thing Sephiroth's toting around, and the source of those creatures we seem to fight each time we see him.

"Jenova was believed to be an Ancient, like Aeris. And with research on Jenova, ShinRa hoped that she would lead them to a land in which Mako occurred naturally in great abundance. The scientists involved with the Jenova Project were Gast, Hojo, and a young intern named Lucrecia. Lucrecia was in her last year of medical school, as she aspired to become a geneticist. But even though she was an intern and still in school, she was a brilliant scientist. Of course, Hojo, always scheming, noticed this. I suppose he thought she'd make a fine name to stand next to his own, or perhaps he truly had fallen for her, I have no clue."

I blink and try to be as still as possible, as if moving would turn Vincent back into his ordinary silent self. Don't wanna end story time just yet. "So, how'd you know them? You were a Turk, right? Not a scientist, so how…?"

"I had been sent to guard the privacy and welfare of the three scientists set to study Jenova. We were based in Nibelheim, the Shinra Mansion…"

"Ohhh…" I think some pieces are starting to come together now. "Go on, I wanna hear more."

"Lucrecia was as beautiful as she was talented. It was no wonder that Hojo was interested in her, but he lacked the social skills to know how to approach the matter… properly. I had no idea of Hojo's thoughts on Lucrecia. I saw her as a young and vibrant woman, and naturally, I was blinded. She was far too lovely to be shut up in a lab all day, but that was her place. I couldn't see that all she wanted was to work in the lab and not be bothered by infatuated men at all hours of the day. That was my first mistake. But she eventually gave in, and I thought I was so much in love… I proposed marriage to her, but that was the last straw. It turned out that she couldn't handle the relationship, so she broke it off with me and went crying to Hojo. Of course, she had absolutely no idea that he also was quite interested in her. And Hojo, being socially inept as he was, knew nothing else than to welcome her in with open arms. He was so withdrawn about his feelings that Lucrecia never even suspected a thing. But when it came down to it, it was all about science for Hojo. When he impregnated Lucrecia, it was honestly more for science than for love, or even lust. So he stole away her child and left her to die on the table. He'd gotten what he had wanted all along, so it seems. But I was so heartbroken and weak, upset over the fact that Lucrecia had chosen Hojo over me, that I was once again blinded. I was blind to her suffering as she struggled with the child, and blind once again in her most dire time of need as she died slowly from the extremes of Mako poisoning as the improper birthing of the child had left all the toxic wastes of Mako seeping through her veins. All because of Hojo's interest in the child, all the Mako injections and the Jenova injections… The Jenova cells lived in her, too, I suppose. But I realized, when I discovered her body on the floor of that spare bedroom, that I never really loved her at all. If I had, I would have stayed with her through her pregnancy and as she had her child to protect her, just as I had been appointed to do. But because of my foolishness, my stupidity, and my weakness, I failed her. I failed Lucrecia, and as a result, she lost her life. If I hadn't been so dumb, I could have looked past all my own little problems to focus on what I needed to do. But I couldn't and this is what happened. Those years spent in that coffin are my repentance. I deserve every ounce of pain and every drop of sorrow that is offered to me. Because I couldn't fight fate, and fate punished me."

My mouth lies agape as I stare with wide eyes at what I now will call: Vampire Turkey Murderer Idiot Freak. VTMIF. Pronounced "viht-mihf". But I don't exactly see why this is his fault! He didn't love Lucrecia, so why would he go back to protect her?

"Why would you have protected her anyway? You discovered that you didn't love her like you thought you did, so then what reason would you have?"

Vincent shakes his head mournfully. "No. I didn't love her. I cared about her still, though. That would have been reason enough. It was also my job to protect the privacy and welfare of the scientists, despite the circumstances. Getting fired would have been fine, but the guilt of not going to aid a person I cared about is much worse. I must atone for these sins."

Unbeknownst to me up until now, my hand is clasped tightly over Vincent's prosthetic claw.

"But why are you… well… you know…"

"Do you mean to ask why I am malformed?"

"Uh, yeah! Oh wait, no! I mean.. uh.."

He closes his eyes, and it looks as if he's trying to grasp a particularly painful memory. But he's not MALFORMED. Gawd, no, he's damn sexy! I mean, not really THAT sexy, but, well.. GAWD, WHATEVER! He ain't a hideous, monstrous dude! What I MEANT to say was something like, "You're not malformed! You're gorgeous! I wanna know why you have creepy red eyes and a prosthetic/intimidation device, that's all!" Yup, much better.

"After I found Lucrecia's corpse, I headed down to the basement of the Mansion where the laboratory was located. Hojo was there with Lucrecia's child, injecting some new substance into him. I yelled something, but Hojo just laughed and shot me straight in the chest. And when I woke up… I was a completely different person, it seemed. The claw had replaced my left arm below the elbow and I imagine my eyes had changed in color, as well. But the most horrible thing I realized as I sat on the floor, wondering what had happened were the voices. Louder and softer, they gave me a headache. And later, as I had a run-in with a few of Hojo's escaped specimens, I discovered what the voices were. They were demons, living inside my head."

"How in the hell did Hojo get demons in your head?"

"I don't know."

I think for a second, and then something else comes to me. "Hey, what happened to Lucrecia's kid?"

A shadow flickers across Vincent's eyes. "You have met him," he says slowly. "Lucrecia's son is Sephiroth."

Omigawd.

"No wayyyy!" I shriek, eyes popping. "He's wayyy too young to be that… uh… old. Wait.." I then realize the error in my words as Vincent's forever-young face hovers in front of me, looking stony as ever. "No wait, sorry, that isn't right."

Vincent, no, he's VINNIE! Augh… Vinnie stands up again and reaches for a shopping bag on the end of his bed. "I found a coat for you. It will be much colder as we climb the mountain."

W-wait! MOUNTAIN?

I blink. "What mountain?"

He blinks, too. "Mount Gaea. Cloud mentioned it earlier."

"He did?"

A silent nod, then a swish as Mr. Cloak-man swiftly moves to the door, with as much dramatic foreboding in his step, of course. I dress quickly in my newer outfit that I got back at Gold Saucer and grab the coat Vinnie got. It's really… well..

"Uhh, Vinnie?"

"?"

"What is this?"

"It's a coat."

"It….. don't look a coat."

"?"

"It looks more like a cloak to me."

"…………."

I swear, it's a cloak. It's black and wool and it's heavy as shit. It has buttons and… oh.. Sleeves.

"Never mind."

Buttoning up the cloak/coat as I go, I bound over to the door and open it. With a dramatic sweep of my arm, I gesture out towards the hall.

"Ladies first, Vinnie!"

He blinks once, then takes the door from me as he gently… shoves me out into the hall. Gawd, he takes everything so SERIOUSLY. Ahh… I feel kinda better. Guess Vinnie's "I got it worse than you" story did somethin' for me.

We venture into the town and enter a nearby family-owned restaurant for dinner. Vinnie glances at the menu before setting it down atop his bread plate and resting his elbows on the table.

"Whatcha gonna get?" I ask cheerily, puzzling over the 'Giant Chicken Salad and Lettuce Sandwich' and the 'Tomato Baked Pasta With Sage'. Both look yummy… Oh man, I KNOW! I'll get both. Hehe. And maybe an ice cream brownie for dessert.

Vincent focuses on rubbing a spot of water off his claw before answering. "I think just some tea and toast will do," he says quietly, almost too quietly for me to catch. Even though he doesn't say anything and his face is carefully blank, I know somethin's wrong… Huh. I can read him like A BOOK! Man, I am SO GOOD.

"Hey, Vinnie, what's wrong?" I reach over the table to touch his arm, but he takes his elbows off the table and out of reach. I grab the artificial sweetener instead and shake it up before dumping a great deal of it into my water. Yay. Fake sugar water.

"Nothing," he says a little too quickly, and he averts his eyes to stare at a spot on the floor.

"You're lying." He's being weirder than usual…

"I just don't like reliving the past." Definitely weird.

"Sorry…"

He doesn't say anything. Guess I wasn't expecting a response, anyway.

We eat in silence, him taking an excruciatingly long while to eat two pieces of buttered toast and to sip at a cup of tea. Perhaps this is in proportion to me eating like a whirlwind pig, scarfing down a humongous sandwich, a heaping plate of pasta, and a brownie the size of a cake topped with three huge scoops of vanilla ice cream and maraschino cherries.

"Hey, Vinnie?" I groan, slouching down in the chair, after succeeding in stuffing myself with a huge amount of food. "Why don't you eat much?"

He finishes off the rest of his tea and gives me a red tinted _look_ that would have had me squealing for my mommy a few years ago. But I know that it's just the way he is. I wonder if he was hot before he got messed up, too…?

"My metabolism is very efficient."

I raise an eyebrow. "Wouldn't that make you hungry faster?"

He shakes his head. "Perhaps, but Hojo made sure that all the even slightly enjoyable sensations of life were removed from me. I don't need to eat much because of the considerable amounts of Mako fused into my cells."

Whooooo! The Mako Powered Man!

"Hey, so you could be like, an icon for the power companies! Like, "We powered this man by Mako generated electricity, so let's give your home the…. VINNIE TREATMENT! Installation and the first month absolutely FREE! And then, and then, this little logo thingy with your face all sexy and whatnot pops up on the screen with a phone number below it in huge white letters while they rattle off all the "fine print" crap a million miles and hour, and then the insanely catchy music ends, ending the ad! MAN, I'd SO buy that."

Vinnie just glares.

Late that night, I have a funny dream….

Chibi Spike pops up, squeaking cutely and brandishing a little Buster Sword.

Then Chibi Vinnie pops up, not squeaking cutely, but still cute all the same. He stands in a really shadowy corner and broods, like normal.

Then… the words, "The Godo Cheeseman Show" pop up right in front of my eyes! I then realize that I'm watching a TV show. A bag of potato chips appears in my lap, and I munch happily.

"Please welcome our host, Godo Cheeseman!" A deep, fakely spirited voice booms out from nowhere, and my dad, dressed like a wheel of Gouda rolls over to a podium at which he grabs a microphone. The audience claps and then becomes silent. For some reason, the fact that Godo is dressed like cheese doesn't faze me in the slightest.

"Welcome to tonight's show everyone! For this episode we have planned a little Bachelor/Bachelorette game show! Please give a round of applause to our eligible bachelors!" Gouda-Godo gestures towards Spike and Vinnie, still chibified, who are now sitting in their respective marked seats. I clap and cheer loudly.

"Go Spike! Go Vinnie! You look sexy!"

"And now, our bachelorette! My very own daughter, Yuffie Kisaragi!"

The crowd explodes into cheers and hoots as-

"Wait, how can I be here and there at the same time?"

My question is answered as I suddenly feel a sucking feeling around my middle, then as I look down, my whole body as I disappear into the television set. This doesn't bother me, either, for some reason. I land in a cushy chair and beam at the crowd, still going wild. This is awesome, I'm such a star…

"So let's get onto the questions!" Godo hands me a card of questions to ask, and I begin.

"Bachelor Number One, of these assorted personal grooming items, which would you be? Tweezers, comb, hand towel, nail clippers, or razor blade?"

Bachelor One's voice comes loud and clear, but for some reason, I can't identify it. "I'd definitely be a razor blade since I'm sharp…"

"Uh… okay…. Bachelor Number Two?"

"……"

"Um, Number Two? Which item would you be?"

"……."

"Hello?"

"……."

"Okaaaaay… Bachelor Number One, what's wrong with Number Two?"

Some rustling, and I can hear the dude plunk back into a chair. "I dunno, he took off."

I blink. "Why?"

And then, I'm back outside the television, on top of my bag of chips.

Please stand by while we locate the missing guest.

Sighing, I drag myself over to a chair and pull myself into it, not realizing that it already holds an inhabitant.

"OH MY GAWD!"

"Yuffie?"

"Nmyuwannagetup…"

"Yuffie."

"Whatcha doin' in my chair, Vinnie?"

"? Yuffie, wake up."

I bolt upright, my eyes pop open, and the remainder of my dream makes itself known to the world as I shout,

"OH MY GAWD VINNIE! WE'RE GETTING MARRIEEEEEDDDDD!"

The real Vinnie's eyes widen to twice their size in what appears to be horror.

And I fall off the bed.

Good MORNING, ICICLE INN!

* * *

Gosh, I hate writers block! I did have some fun with the 'Godo Cheeseman Show', though. Kinda just let my mind wander for that, hehehe. I was a little hesitant tohave Vincent speak so much, but since this isn't told in third person omniscient, we can't see his thoughts, and Yuffie sure can't read them, so I had him just totally go nuts. Can't do flashbacks, either! I could do his flashbacks only if it was from his point of view, which it's not. So Yuffie gets the spotlight! Sorry if it's out of character, I tried. Wah... Interesting, now I can reply to your reviews! I might just have some fun with all these new features... Hee hee hee. Private messaging, too! Well, well, well... 


	7. Piping Hot, Frigid Cold

The Materia Hunter- Seventh Chapter: Piping Hot, Frigid Cold

Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy VII and I don't have anything clever to say here. No fancy disclaimers for me. Bleh.

* * *

More toast and tea adorns the breakfast table as we eat in companionable silence, me thinking about "storytime" from the previous night, and him thinking about who knows what the hell what.

_-My dearest Vincent,_

_I am sure that you have been wondering lately as to why I haven't given you… an answer as of yet. I am very sorry about this, but Hojo has had me working especially hard lately. But last night, I was thinking about you. And, I was also thinking about some things pertaining to work that I must think about. Please understand, Vincent. If I marry, that surely means that I will be excluded from the Jenova Project. Hojo truly has no time for sentimentalities…- _

_I stare at the note, mouth slightly agape. Is Vincent.. married? A guilty feeling washes over me, and I suddenly am afraid that I've infringed on something seriously above me. So, I stuff the note back where I found it and slam the door leading to the other room as I leave._

"_You okay, Yuffie?"_

_My heart is throbbing, and I don't know why. My breath is short like I've just run a marathon._

"_You look like you've seen a ghost!"_

"_H-hey, guys?" I begin, sitting on a bed. "Is Vincent married?"_

That letter was probably Lucrecia's, huh? I guess they didn't get married after all. Hmm… Speaking of marriage…

"_OH MY GAWD VINNIE! WE'RE GETTING MARRIEEEEEDDDDD!"_

_The real Vinnie's eyes widen to twice their size in what appears to be horror. _

_And I fall off the bed._

This morning's events were kinda embarrassing. But besides the initial pop-eye thing, Vinnie didn't really freak out or anything. Now that I think about it, he's probably used to hanging around insane people.

"Yuffie, are you alright?" Vinnie walks around the bed to where I landed in a lump of sheets and limbs on the floor. I take his offered hand and scramble to my feet, cheeks burning.

"_Sorry 'bout that," I mumble-squeak, hiding my face in the tangled bedclothes bunched up in my arms. "Just a weird dream."_

He didn't say anything to me after that. Kinda thankful…

So after eating breakfast, we coasted down the slopes at the far end of the town, leading deeper into the Snow Fields towards Mt. Gaea on borrowed skis. Why skis? Cause I wanted them. Last time I rode a snowboard was when Wutai had this weird freak blizzard. And while everyone was crowded inside the shrine at the Pagoda end of town, I was outside the city on a little slick green snowboard, screaming my head off as I hurtled down the steep mountainsides of Wutai's outskirts. It was tons of fun, but the fact that I had never snowboarded before was obvious as I landed in a puffy, snowy heap at the bottom of a particularly icy hill. Took months for all the bruises to go away… ick. Black and blue are not my colors. And those stupid ties made sure my ankles were twisted into licorice candy for even longer. I'm just glad I didn't break anything! I could have never been a ninja with a broken little body. Leviathan must have been smiling at me that day. Funny too, cause I was probably the only one in town not praying to him that day.

"Yikes, yikes, yikes! Vinnie, look out!" Despite the long skis stuck to the soles of my shoes, I attach myself to the back of Vinnie, who is in front of me, and we come sailing straight off the slope altogether, disappearing into a blowing flush of snow.

The next thing I know is the cold stone of a cave floor against my cheek and the sounds of gunfire.

"Hey, what? Vinnie!" I look about frantically in the direction of the gunshots. In the back of the shallow cave, I see a light where another entrance is and two battling figures, silhouetted against the light of the midmorning sun, reflecting off the snow as a blinding white. One of the figures falls to his knees, but not in an exhausted way. The other walks up to him and places slender fingers on his… gun…

"VINNIE!" I spring up to the floor and dart over to my shuriken leaning against a wall. As I bring my arm back to fling it at the enemy, I identify it as a young woman, skin tinged a pale, frozen blue. The weapon comes forward, and I make to propel it from my fingers, but she smiles and grabs a comatose Vinnie by the wrist. He suddenly snaps to life and dives in front of the woman. Just before the shuriken leaves my hand, I snatch it back.

"Vinnie? What are you doing?"

His eyes are strange right now, I dunno. Usually, they're bright and bloody, carrying a look that only a tormented, tortured soul could have. But now, they're… weird. They're not him. They seem really.. contented?

Silently, he walks over to me, and for the first time, I'm scared of him. But I REALLY get scared when the tip of the barrel of his gun meets the base of my skull, him standing behind me, me seriously trying not to piss my pants.

"Omigawd, Vinnie," I manage to squeak out. "We have so many incredible memories together! Wait… no. Okay, so we don't have any really cool memories, and I haven't really done anything to make you not wanna shoot me, but please don't kill me! I'll be good! I promise!"

The safety latch clicks back.

"Vinnie, you little bugger, you wouldn't shoot me. Especially not now-!" I lance my elbow back as hard as I can, forcing him to double over and remove the gun from my head. The blue-tinged woman gives a little gasp as I turn right around and smack Vinnie straight in the face. Go me. But a horrid shriek interrupts me as the woman lets out a blizzard force blast of freaking COLD straight at me.

Oh crap.

I sit on the floor, gasping, unable to move my limbs as the blue woman smirks at me and steps around me daintily to get to Vinnie, still doubled over, holding his stomach. She stands beside him for a moment and peers at him before she scrambles backwards. And in a second, I know exactly why.

Slowly, his head raises, and our eyes meet. At first, all I can see is a look of pure terror in his eyes that makes my stomach drop. Right, that's real good. Sit here with your body frozen stiff AND barf up a few ice cubes to have with some strawberry smoothies once we get outta this stupid iceberg. But then, I notice something else. Purple begins to seep into his irises as if someone was leaking a pen into his eyes. It swirls around the pupil until it overtakes the red. Then the pupils themselves disappear until they too are a violent shade of purple. Okay, maybe he is a chameleon like I thought earlier. But something definitely is going on here… even weird for Vinnie. The man that can turn into monsters. Oh. Oh…

Oh hell.

He's turning into a monster.

And I'm sitting here, like a block of frozen meat, just waiting to be snapped up like a Yuffie-cracker. In fact, I AM just a frozen block of meat right about now.

Oh. Hell.

Vinnie's jaws wrench apart as inch-long fangs sprout, spurting little streams of blood where they break the gums. Clothes whisk away into nothingness and I glimpse a pale chest before the beast appears in his place. Guess Leviathan thought it would make my day to get a shot of a hot guy's chest before I die, huh? Well, that's nice. I guess… Gawd, I'm gonna die… I'm a sitting duck! No. A chunk of frozen chicken soup, sitting in a bowl in front of a ravenous monster. Man, I had wayyy too short of a life. I didn't even get to taste the strawberries grown in Gongaga that my mother loved. And I never got to steal the Leviathan Materia from the fifth floor of the Pagoda of the Five Mighty Gods just to prove I could. I never got to learn All Creation, or to restore my hometown, or to kick my dad's ass in battle AND at mahjongg, I never got to dress up in a fancy kimono and full makeup to dance in the Rebirth Festival alongside my dad for my seat in the Pagoda…

I'll never get to tell Vinnie to get a life.

Damn.

In a whirl of purple fur and a tangle of matted orange mane, I fall over as Vinnie-turned-Mr. Monster charges at the blue woman. Another crying shriek fills the cavern, and I wish I could move my arms to cover my ears. The sounds of claws tearing through flesh come next, and I shudder. Grossness! And then, with several bursts of some sort of summoned flame, the snow woman lets out her last dying scream before she disappears altogether, leaving a shining red Materia orb in her wake. Usually I'd be excited. But that's only when I'm NOT waiting to be slaughtered in the same nasty manner as the snow girl.

"Please, don't kill me, Vinnie. Pleeeeeaaaaaseeee don't kill me!" I somehow manage to close my eyes to wait for the impact. Hope it's fast. Wonder if Spike'll be mad that Vinnie killed me? Eh, probably not.

"I didn't know that great ninjas begged for their lives."

"Well, I-" I begin to argue, but suddenly open my eyes in surprise to find Vinnie crouched in front of me instead of a hairy, fanged thing, ready to eat me up like a pork chop. He blinks, but I can tell that he's at least a tiny bit amused by my bewilderment. Nasty vamp-monster-chameleon-robot-rock-…..thing.

"Let's go."

I nod and stumble after him blindly, staring at him all the way out of the cave, slightly disturbed, but mostly cold. The snow woman's spell had begun to wear off, but I still can't feel my fingers or toes. Man, it's SO COLD up here… Wutai gets really cold sometimes, but it's nothing like this.

"Soooo, Vinnie. Any idea where we are? Hey, wouldn't it be funny if we froze into ice cubes and then Spike found us? He'd have some sort of spastic attack. But then again, at least he finds you useful and stuff. I think he probably hates me... he wouldn't care if I froze, huh?" I try my best not to let my teeth chatter, but they do anyway, and I clench them hard to keep them still. I'm kinda glad Vinnie got this coat for me, even if it IS a little… gothic looking. Not really my style, but hey. If it keeps me from becoming a ninja on ice, gothic is definitely okay with me. And I'm sure Spike WOULDN'T care if I froze out here, but I don't care about him, either. Nyehhh! Eh, whatever. He's kinda hot anyway, he wouldn't freeze. Yes. I am babbling to myself. Hopefully the little electric impulses in my head will generate enough warmth for the rest of me if I keep talking to myself like this. Heh. Not likely. But the cold makes me do this, so whatever. I can see it… The Yuffie Brand Electric Space Heater. Powered by Vinnie Treatment Home Electrics. And one day, Yuffie's head will begin vibrating violently as she generates enough heat with random thoughts alone. Then… KABOOM! I'd better shut up. Yes. Shut… up…. It's so cold…. So so so sooooo cold.

Yeah… Vinnie and I make it across the Snow Fields somehow with the help of a trusty Snow Fields map. I think he's perfectly content with the fact that I've kept myself quiet all the way here. Nasty… umm.. What are all the things that he is again? Man, he's even harder to remember than my own title… not that my title is hard to remember or anything. Super Princess-… no, Ultra Ninja Huntress… oh, right. Materia Hunter Yuffie is just dandy! But Vinnie is…. Vinnie is… the…

Vinnie is the Mukukuu Man.

Oh, I dunno why. I'm cold. My brain is a big old lump of nerve slush right now. Zombie ice cream. And now I'm starting to hallucinate, I think… It almost looks like there's a house… right in the middle of this frozen hell…

Loopti doopti doo… Three doors, five windows. Something's warm on my right side. Oh, gawd, please don't tell me that I've been dragged off to the Fire Caves by a fat-ass pervert again…

A fire.

"AAAAAHHHHHHH!" I start yelling, maybe a little louder than I intended, but that's good if I've been carted off again. So… "AAAAAAHHHHHHH!"

"Yuffie!" Vincent appears in my floaty line of vision. Okay. Vinnie. Not Corneo. Vinnie. Not Corneo.

I grin stupidly. "Mornin' Vinnie."

He shakes his head at me, then takes a long look at my feet. Satisfied by whatever thrills my chilly toes give him, he walks over to the fire and it immediately grows with one pointed glare. Must be magic fire… This carpet is so soft.. Not a carpet… a fur? Soft.. and warm… Vinnie comes back over and sits on the nice and warm fur next to my head. He sits in the manner that you'd sit in Wutai if you were gonna pray to a body before it was cremated- on his knees, legs tucked carefully under him, precisely one and a half feet to the left of the head as to make the distance intimate but not intruding, like the body was gonna feel uncomfortable, anyway. Eh. His hands lay half folded in his lap, and now I'm starting to wonder if I'm either already dead or about to die, at least. Now that I think about it, I can't feel my body. It just feels… warm.

Omigawd, I'm dead.

"I'm DEAD! VINNIE, I'M DEADDD! DEADDDDDDD!" I shriek with the essence of every bone in my body, panicked and, little to my knowledge, writhing around with my supposedly immovable, dead body.

He just stares at me blankly.

"…..oh."

Vinnie looks at me with a hard look in his eyes as he speaks. "You were becoming rather fatigued as we approached the mountain," he begins, not blinking. "It was lucky that Mr. Holzoff's house was here, and that he was willing to let us stay here you could recover." Still no blinking from Mistah Mukukuu. Okay, I'm done with that name.

"You sustained no serious injuries except for slight frostbite on your extremities, namely, your feet."

Still no blinking. It's been… a minute maybe?

"Mr. Holzoff knew how to treat it, and was kind enough to do so."

He still hasn't blinked! C'mon….

"You should thank him when he returns."

"BLINK, VINNIE! BLINK!" I widen my eyes and shout at him, completely out of the blue.

He blinks.

"He should be back soon."

And then, right on cue, the door bursts open, letting a biting chill of wind into the room. I scrunch up and roll closer to the fire. Eew, snow. A series of new voices and scuffling meet my ears.

"Here, put him down over there. Let me help you- ouch, okay, slow and steady… good." A soft thump.

"Will he be okay, Mr. Holzoff?"

"A girl like this came in a few hours ago, and she will be fine. Your friend should fare no worse."

"Thank you so much."

"No problem. Let me go get some blankets from the other room, and then we'll have to move him so he can be near the fire."

Footsteps grow closer, then they stop. A rustle of something being yanked off a shelf, then the footsteps move away.

"Okay. We'll wrap him up in these, then he can go into the other room. Okay.. okay… oof. Pick him up slow now, mind the doorway…"

A struggle and stumble of feet shuffle in, and then, a soft plop as someone is laid onto the fur. Something sharp pokes the top of my head. Something… pointy… and yellow… and strikingly familiar.

"SPIKE!" I scream, scrambling to my feet. Pain shoots through them like lightning, and I trip over them into a frenzy. Holding my hands up to block myself from eating floor, I tense, ready to thwack my nose in, when…

"Uh, thanks Vinnie." Vinnie, who was sitting on the floor, stuck out an arm, which I was now doubled over. Not like his arm is really comfy, either. Feh. I roll off it, back onto the nice soft fur. Pins and needles attack my feet, and I twitch.

"Yow.."

"Yuffie!" a familiar voice exclaims, and feet rush towards me.

"Hey, Tifa." I sit up and rub my… evil feet. They're ice cold, and upon examination, they're also tomato red. Tifa touches the reddened toes gingerly, trying not to look at Spike. Though she's fussing over my feet, I can tell that she's really worried about him more.

"Hey… Is Spike okay? I nudge him lightly with the heel of my palm, and Tifa gives me a harsh look.

"He passed out in the snow from the cold. I guess this means we're not going anywhere for a while, huh."

I just look away. Curling up into a ball, I wriggle over to the wall beside the fireplace and stare at my recovering feet. The march of the pins and needles has stopped and the skin is starting to regain its normal color. Around me, a hubbub of activity starts, Mr. Holzoff often rushing back and forth to get a new salve or fresh water, Tifa running around in a panicked frenzy, making sure to do everything Mr. Holzoff says in record time. Occasionally, chatter erupts from the other, signaling the presence of the others. A swish of something tattered and red catches my eye.

"Hey, Vinnie." For some reason, my voice sounds really hollow. Bad day for karaoke. Eh, I was bad at it, anyway.

"How are you feeling?"

I cock an eyebrow at him. "Shouldn't you be worrying about Spike? Tifa sure is." On cue, she dashes past, her hands full of towels and blankets.

Vinnie just shakes his head. "Cloud has all the attention he is in need of."

Vinnie is strange. If you're with him for a while, you get the impression that he dislikes talking. But, honestly, he doesn't seem to like it or hate it. He doesn't talk for conversation or just for the heck of it, like I do. He only talks when he feels the need to say something. If there's something to be said, he'll say it, and with no skimp on words or difficulty in getting something across. He just… lost the ability to talk for FUN.

"Vinnie?"

"?"

"If I give you some of my ability to take part in meaningless conversation, will you give me back my youth? Youth sucker."

He doesn't respond.

Nothing really happens for the remainder of the evening, except sleeping. By morning, Spike is up and about, being his normal, PMSing self. Kidding. But he's ready to go, and if he's going, we're all going. So after eating a bit of breakfast and forcing Mr. Holzoff to take two thousand gil, (man, we could have used that to get more Materia for me to st- I mean, borrow) we went back out into the chilly, freezing, freaking ABSOLUTE ZERO mountain air for our cute little trek up the mountain of doom. Sure hope it's warmer down in that crater. Brr…

So Spike takes me and Nanaki with him, and Vinnie goes with Tifa and Cid. Barret goes with Cait Sith. A sort of emptiness fills the air when we look at the team of two. If Aeris was here, we'd have three full teams. It makes me feel sick. It makes me feel sick to my stomach.

"Let's mosey."

We clamber up the mountain gracelessly, Nanaki often having to use his claws at spikes to climb. Sometimes, he can jump up to the next ledge himself, and when Spike and I make it up, he waits patiently while we practically pile ourselves on his tail, trying to get as much warmth as possible. About a quarter of the chill in the air is the low temperature. The rest is from the death of Aeris still hanging overhead, haunting, making everything look gray and bleak. With her here, everything just seemed so full of life. She'd probably comment on how the earth is alive and make up little things for the mountain to say, like, "Ow, you stepped on my nose!", or "Hee hee hee, that tickles!". And the journey would be full of laughter.

But now the mountain is not a giant, giggling face, it's a hunk of gray rock covered in cruelly chilling snow with a wicked wind blowing through it. The animals can't talk, and the snow isn't the ice cream of life. Clouds aren't made of cotton candy, and Cloud the person is just as gray as the landscape. He took it harder than the rest of us. He's still trying to cope. But it's too cold to talk. I think my lips are frozen together. Nice.

After what seems to be an eternity, we reach a cave in the mountain. I guess it's a little warmer inside since the wind can't get in. The walls are covered in thick, clear ice, and the floor of the cavern is also icy. Wheee… let's crash and die..

We wander around for a while, and I discover that at the end of a tunnel, there's a suspiciously round boulder. I wonder what would happen if I pushed it? Kekekekeke… Maybe I can have Spike pancakes for lunch. So, I shove the thing back into the tunnel.

A shout and a great commotion erupts farther down, and I chuckle. Spike and Nanaki come out, disheveled and definitely not happy. I just shrug.

"Hey, what happened to you? Looks like you were out in a sleet storm." I grin as innocently as I can and pick a fragment of ice out of Nanaki's mane.

"That-was-not-funny," growls Spike, somehow pulling bits of snow and ice from his hair without hurting himself. "Be more careful next time."

Sheesh, I don't think even _Sephiroth_ could sound colder.

So, yeah. Somehow, we solve all the puzzles of the impossible frozen hell mountain and emerge victorious into the last tunnel. A strange sort of moaning comes from up ahead. I ready my weapon, waiting. More moaning. And then..

"AARGH!"

Spike topples backwards as a figure robed in black flies straight into his head.

"Sephiroth… must… Reunion…"

And then, with only those few cryptic words, the figure in black… dies.

"Omigawd! He's dead! SPIKE, YOU KILLED HIM!" I grab Spike by the largest yellow spike on his head and shake him. "Murderer! MURDERER!"

But he's not paying attention to me. An ominous rumble approaches, and then suddenly, I find the ground disappearing beneath my feet. Chunks of the cave rise up all around us, and we fall over to be met with raining stones and the earth shifting underneath us. Quake. The spell.

As soon as the cave rights itself, I grab my shuriken and hurl it at the two-headed dragon, the wind whistling satisfactorily before it slices at the neck of one of the heads. I fling my arm up to catch the spinning weapon, but flames suddenly engulf my vision. Instinctively, I shut my eyes tight, arms raised to take the magic fire. I'm just glad I raised my arms.

KA-KLANG!

My returning shuriken impacts my arm guard, throwing me backwards, and out of the monster's flames. Lying in a heap of limbs and metal, I can just barely see a glitter of green before a nourishing, pure sort of energy fills me up. I stand and wink at Nanaki, his Restore Materia still glowing. Time to get back into the fray.

For fifteen solid minutes, we scurry around a steady stream of magical attacks from the creature's heads, one head shooting streams of ice, and the other one spurting out fire. Just as I ready myself to cast Restore All, a familiar gunshot rings farther down the tunnel, and a strong wind stirs up my hair as the speeding bullet rips past. Behind me, a ferocious scream of pain signals that the aim was true, and Vinnie comes sprinting towards us, gun raised, concentrated scowl intact. Three more consecutive shots, and he pauses to reload. A click, and the gun is raised again in one fluid movement. As Spike shoves his big ass sword into the monster's leg, Vinnie draws in energy with a series of reddish waves. Enemy Skill? White light appears beneath us, and it scatters, taking our fatigue with it. White Wind. Guess I don't have to use Restore now. Spike yanks the blade out and jumps back, barely missing a freezing stream of ice, aimed at where his head just was. Two stamps of the creature's feet and a roar, and we find ourselves facedown on the cave floor, struggling to right ourselves. Tifa and Cid enter the battle then, Tifa pulling off an impressive somersaulting kick, and Cid slicing through the rest of the neck I had partially severed. The neck lies limp and still, but it earns no respite. Angrier and in pain, red-hot flames make their way towards me and Vinnie. I raise my arms again, but I don't think they'll make a difference… Gawd, I thought I had Magic Barrier on this dumb Materia! Shit!

"Oh, SHIT!"

The flames burn hot and blistering on my forearms, and I can feel the skin disintegrating. I try to step to the side, but my feet seem to be locked in place… Oh gawd…

And suddenly, the heat is gone. I can still hear the angry fire burning, but it's dulled, and it's not on me anymore… Wait, someone's holding me?

Oh gawd.

"VINNIE, YOU IDIOT!"

Sure enough, cold but soothing metal is presses against me, holding me tightly to a dark clothed person, the other arm focused on bearing the brunt of the creature's attack. Still, the monster continues to spout flames, and I struggle against Vinnie's prosthetic.

"Vinnie, you idiot, you'll burn to a frickin' crisp! Let me go! Vinnie!"

Just… a barely perceptible shake of the head. And…

"I do not want to lose another comrade." Stoic. Nearly monotone. And if this wasn't such a stupid, dire, evil, NASTY situation, I'd say, "Drop dead sexy, GAWD, Vincent Valentine, you are one FINE piece o' man."

Then, as I crack my neck in a wild attempt to see, I spot something that makes me sigh in relief. The Fire Ring glistens on his finger, nearly melted from the extreme heat, but it's there, creating a wall between him and the flames. Huh. So, I guess he's not completely stupid. Kay. Whatever. I just stand there and will his brass prosthetic arm to not suffocate me.

And when the monster finally runs out of steam…

We burst forth and turn it into croutons.

Victory.

I rub my charred forearms as we venture down into the Crater. Barret and Cait Sith meet us halfway, and the strange, black-cloaked men are in great abundance here. Quickly, while no one's looking, I dodge around a boulder and snatch a small red orb I had spotted out of the corner of my eye. Come rain, sleet, snow, or horribly burned appendages, Yuffie can always hunt down her Materia! Strangely enough, though the mountain was bitterly cold, the inside of the Crater is pleasantly warm. The path and the large, rounded boulders are covered in thick moss, and sea green puddles of Mako are everywhere.

"Hey, Vinnie?" I look up at the silent gunslinger, all the curiosity and wonderment of a five year old in my eyes.

"?"

"Why is it warm here? And why is there so much moss?"

He looks back onto the path, no change in expression. "There is a great percentage of the Planet's Lifestream gathered here," he says in the tone of a history teacher, "and where the Lifestream collects, wildlife flourishes. In addition to that, Mako gives off heat, or energy. This is why it is useful in generating electricity. In Mako reactors, the energy of the Mako, or Lifestream is harvested, and a waste product is produced. It's warm inside the Crater because of this naturally occurring energy."

I make my eyes all wide and doe like, expecting a "turn to page two thirty-two and complete exercise 10", or "remember this, for it will appear on the next test".

"But why is there so much Lifestream here?"

"It is here because of the Crater. Something landed here thousands of years ago, creating this Crater. Right now, the Planet is collecting Lifestream and focusing it here to heal the rend in the land."

"What landed here?"

He gives me a pointed, vaguely significant look, before gazing back onto the path.

"This is where Jenova first appeared. It is also where she was discovered, preserved in rock and Mako, by Professor Gast. The Knowlespole region, in the thick of the heaviest population of Cetras in the world, thousands of years ago."

I just gape and feel a strong desire to leave. "Oh."

Though the warmth and comforting vegetation of the crater, the path is treacherous as hell. Twisting and turning, it's like a freaking maze, bringing us closer to the enormous swell of Lifestream within the center, swirling like some magnificent lava lamp of doom.

"Ah. It's you. So you came after all."

A familiarly soft, yet strong voice comes from right above my shoulder, and I freeze in my tracks. Black leather brushes my thigh as Sephiroth steps around me calmly, Masamune in hand. My eyes dart from it to his face and back again, fearfully, and he stops, next to me, and a little in front of me, and right in front of Spike. His eyes, also full of fear even with their deceptively fierce Mako glow, are a giveaway to his emotions, but he stands strong.

"Sephiroth," he hisses, anger in his voice without even a tinge of fear.

But Sephiroth just smiles, surprisingly serene and pure looking for his evil mental state. "Puppet, she has gone to the Lifestream. She will be reborn soon. You will as well. You can be together… as a part of me." Though he doesn't mention it, he's obviously talking about Aeris. Spike scowls determinedly, and I can almost see the anger radiating off of him. All the fear is gone from his eyes. But as he just stands there smoldering…

"YOU COLD BASTARD! TAKE THIS!"

A fist flies with inhuman speed at Sephiroth's jaw. For a second, I can see it, connecting, the bone snapping, silver hair flashing as the man falls to the ground. But that turns out to be just a vision as Sephiroth whirls around even faster than Tifa's fist, catches it, then delivers a quick and rather light looking chop to the collarbone. Obviously, it wasn't such a light blow as the startled girl impacts the ground. Immediately, she clutches where Sephiroth's hand had contacted. Wincing horribly, she struggles to get up. C'mon, Yuffie… you chicken.. Help her! Gawd! Why am I so scared of him? He's done nothing to me!

But as I stand, having an inner conflict with me, myself, and I, Sephiroth starts to talk again.

"Doesn't it hurt, Tifa?" There's a sort of mocking in his voice now. That's it, his tight little ass is gonna meet orange sneaker here real soon…

"After all, Masamune does leave permanent injury. I am surprised that you lived."

Tifa scowls as Spike pulls himself together and rushes to her side. "For your information, Sephiroth," she hisses, unbridled hatred gleaming in her eyes, "my heart is not located in my shoulder."

Sephiroth laughs lightly. "Fine, so perhaps you are more resilient than I thought. You were the delicate tour guide, and we were the big scary SOLDIERs. Slicing you through was not on my list of priorities, though I did find satisfaction in watching you lie like a rag doll at the bottom of the stairs."

What in the hell are they talking about? I think I've lost 'em. They must be talking about the past. Eewww… moldy oldy memories, rearing their ugly heads. Kinda like the three-month-old bottle of milk or the ham you bought two New Years' ago that's still rotting slowly in the fridge. Eww.

"You tried to kill Tifa. You burned my hometown and now you've killed Aeris! This is the end, Sephiroth! This is the end for you!" Cloud thrusts a protective arm in front of Tifa, shouting with all his might at a calm, but decidedly not happy Sephiroth.

And then, Sephiroth just shrugs.

"You're right. This is the end… of this body's usefulness."

And he disappears. Gawd, I didn't know he could do that. Cheating! CHEATING!

We stand there apprehensively, looking around with wide eyes, like in a room of people with fly swatters, each one looking out for the cockroach they had lost, but none of them really wanting to find the thing and have to smash it.

But he doesn't return.

We fight another of Jenova's stiff, looming creatures. This one is fire based, so Vinnie covers us because of his Fire Ring and we attack it with magic.

The battle is boring. I dunno why, but it's boring. This monster is kinda slow…

Afterwards, Spike hands off the Black Materia to Barret to hold. Good thing, I really didn't want to have anything to do with it. The only Materia I don't want is that one… it's really creepy. It just has "evil" written all over it. Besides, what if Sephiroth decided to run me through on his long ass sword so he could pry the Materia from my cold, dead fingers? No way! NO WAYYYYY!

"Let's mosey on, then."

Tifa runs up to Spike, looking genuinely worried. Luckily, she doesn't seem to be really injured by the hit she took from Sephiroth, seeing as she can still run normally without… dying.

"I'd like to go with you."

Spike nods once, then turns to me. "Yuffie, will you wait here with the others?" he asks stoically, but his eyes beg. I sigh and throw my arms up in fake frustration. "Fine", I grumble, plopping down onto my butt dramatically. "Take Tifa with you, I dun care! Now that I know how you REALLY feel."

For a second there, Spike looks like he's gonna sputter or make some half-assed retort, but he just frowns. "This is no time for jokes." Curt and business-like. Wah, he must really look up to Vinnie, 'cause he's becoming just like him…

Tifa, Nanaki, and Spike proceed ahead in an awkward silence. But, I'd take awkward silence over say… being hit on the head with a gigantic sledgehammer and falling into a very painful coma, only to wake up, not in a comfy bed like always seems to happen, but right here on the damp and a little too-warm rocks…

POW!

Stars suddenly pop in my eyes, and I fall over with a slight thud. Out of the corner of my drifting vision, I can see Vincent spread-eagled on the ground, unconscious. Then, the swimming black comes…

The next thing I know, we're exactly where we were, but Barret is gone. This doesn't look too good. I'd bet five thousand gil that Sephiroth is behind all this… And five thousand gil could probably get me a pretty good hunk of Materia. We have to find Spike. Now.

"Let's go!"

We continue along the path until the entrance of a cavern comes up. Breathless, I dash inside, the others close at my heels. And then…

"!#$! EARTH #&$!$ING QUAKE!"

I narrowly avoid being run over as a stampede of well dressed Shinra brats flee in a frenzy from the cave. Not knowing what to do, I follow Tifa. One by one, we clamber up the ladder into the most gigantic aircraft I have ever seen. But I don't have time to marvel at the thing before I plunk down onto my butt. The airship is fast, but not fast enough to avoid the shock from the FREAKING HUGE MONSTERS FLYING OUT OF THE CAVE! OH MY FREAKING GAWD!

Don't tell me we're gonna hafta fight those things. Ohhh, pleeeaaase don't tell me that.

A guy in a cap and jumpsuit with "Shin-Ra Air Craft Maintenance" printed on the back opens the door to the inside of the ship when the shockwaves subside.

"You might want to come inside. Pilot wants to get to Junon as fast as possible, President's orders."

Not knowing exactly why that matters whether we're inside or not, I still follow the man, Tifa in front of me, Vinnie behind, inside the airship. It smells like oil and metal, and it looks like it, too. Cid lets out a weird excited squeak. Betcha can't imagine Cid squeaking. Sounds weird.

"And President Rufus would like you to go inside the Operations Room. He will meet with you shortly to discuss… matters." The uniformed man salutes and leaves us in a long tabled meeting room, obviously meant for Shinra uses abroad. We all sit around the table, and then I notice…

"Where's Spike?"

Tifa, who had been silent up until now, looks up. Everyone but Barret stares at her curiously.

"Yeah, the kid's got a point. Where'd he go?"

"Huh? Hey, yeah! Cloud's gone!"

"…….."

…and so on. Tifa just shakes her head.

"He's… just dealing with himself right now. I'm sure we'll meet him again someday."

My eyes widen. "You can't be serious!" I shout, standing up. "You make it sound like he left the group! Wait, did he leave? He can't have! Tifa, what happened?"

Someone clears his throat at the door, and I stop my rant. Short, slick blonde hair, ice chip eyes, and his trademark white trench coat and suit. Rufus Shinra.

Those scarily cold eyes meet mine, and I'm suddenly, much to my own dismay, am reminded of Sephiroth. But these are blue, not greenish blue, and harder. If he didn't have the air of an evil maniac, Sephiroth has the eyes of a person who was once kind. That just makes him scarier…

But Rufus Shinra just looks hard, cold, and sharp as a flint.

"Please be seated, Miss…?"

I scowl. "It's Yuffie. Yuffie Kisaragi."

"Ah. The little empress." I scowl harder and resist the urge to punch his lights out. The president of the company that ruined MY Wutai just called me LITTLE EMPRESS. And he can't be that much older than me.

"How old are you now, Miss Kisaragi? Twelve? Thirteen?"

I now fight down the urge to both punch his lights out AND give him the gift of a good hard kick to the nuts. "Sixteen," I force out, teeth clenched, scowl on full blast, blood pressure rising…

"I see. I have heard many things about you, Miss Kisaragi, and I am glad to have the honor of meeting you. You are as beautiful as they say."

I turn a choke of laughter into a very pronounced cough. Ha! He just wants Wutai as a tributary state so that he can leech the rest of our money out and steal our military tactics. And here I am, having been frozen, roasted, nearly eaten, and most likely covered in bruises, bumps, and who knows what, and he wants to call me "beautiful". Suck up. SUCK UPPPPPP! Who said I was beautiful? The Adamantoises? SUCK UPPPPPPPPPPP!

But I just settle for a severely irritated look as I glare at the too cold president. "Are we resorting to flattery now, _Mr. President_? Couldn't get Wutai before could you? So you just had to go and ruin our lives. Well, I guess you'll be glad to know that my dad's a right old coot, and he'll probably give in to you eventually anyway since he's such a wuss. So you have absolutely no need to call the pile of bruised choco-shit before you any form of attractive. You want beautiful? Drown yourself in that Ancient Lake that my friend rests at the bottom of now. My friend, killed by the stupid, outta control maniac that YOUR COMPANY had the gall to create. Still not enough? Look at Tifa! Every single trauma in her entire life has been caused by.. oh my, guess what? Your company! Sephiroth! Killed everyone she held dear and took a serious screw session to the only one she had left, it looks like." Now, I'm just spouting every problem I've got with Shinra, and it feels good. It feels really, really good. Let's let it all out now..

"SCREW YOU!" There… Ahh…

He doesn't say anything, but the look in his eye softens just a tad. He shakes his head.

"I apologize for the trouble my father has caused you, Miss Kisaragi. If anything, I can only apologize. He sits in the empty chair next to mine. Not so intimidating when he's brought down on a lower level. Gawd, I wanna slap him so hard..

"But if it's any condolence to you, though you are injured, you are a very lovely young woman."

Startled shouts of "YUFFIE!" ring in my ears, and not even Vincent can restrain me from kicking him. Right in the teeth. I hope my shoe leaves a print. I hope he _dies_.

* * *

My goodness, that was hard to write. And I'm not really happy with it at all, but it's the best I can do for now. I wanted this up yesterday for New Years, but it wasn't coming along fast enough. It's 2:30 AM. Wahhh…. But.. I hope you all had a happy New Years, and many more to come! 


	8. Negotiations for Wutai

Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy VII.

The Materia Hunter- Eighth Chapter- Negotiations For Wutai

* * *

He sits there, in that disgustingly shiny chair, across from me at a disgustingly shiny and pristine table. My hair, still fresh from a good scrub and scented lightly of a way too strong shampoo, flops into my face. I don't even bother to brush it away. Though Rufus' face remains unharmed for the most part, a small cut on his lip gives away his foot-in-face experience only about an hour ago. I cannot BELIEVE the others just LEFT me here with him.. Okay, so they didn't really LEAVE me here… We went to go see the chocobos that the crewmen were claiming were giving birth to baby chocobos. And me, ignorantly dawdling at the tail end of the group, was basically snatched up by a hand out of a doorway and kidnapped into oblivion. Heh. Been about a half hour so far… Eh. They probably haven't even noticed I've gone. And all Mr. "I'm too sexy for you" Rufus wants to talk about is business deals. Hell, doesn't he KNOW that I'm not in power in Wutai yet? And he didn't have to KIDNAP me. 

Well..

Maybe, yeah.. Ha, I'd probably dart around and spank his ass with my shuriken if he asked to talk to me. But, since my shuriken are conveniently MISSING right now, that's not really an option.

"So, what do you say? It is a good deal for you. Wutai receives a monthly interest of five percent on the weapons that Junon will receive. And the Wutaian army will receive a shipment of Shinra's latest armor along with it."

I break out of my thoughts of bashing in that smug face, or setting his ass on fire, or seeing if I can get him to run around screaming, "PUT ME OUT, YOU MOTHA !$ER!", and focus on the task at hand. Besides, if I'm gonna lead Wutai one day, I'm gonna hafta learn to deal with this sort of shit…

"Mr. President," I say calmly, business-like. "Apparently, you do not know much about Wutai. We do not mass-produce weapons. Each weapon that comes into the hands of our soldiers is hand crafted by a master of the trade. We would not have enough artisans or resources to supply even one battalion of your soldiers, much less your entire army. Secondly, our armor is superior to yours. We have no need of it. And thirdly, five percent is far too much for even Shinra to pay on what we would have to charge you for so many weapons, even if it was possible to produce them." I pause, giving Rufus a very pointed look. "Besides, I have no power over Wutai's business deals, or anything else for that matter." I steeple my fingers over the table, surprised at my own calmness. Actually, I'm really surprised that I haven't wiggled lower into my seat so my toe would get a better shot at his crotch.

"I understand, Miss Kisaragi," he says, a well-practiced blankness settling over his face, "but surely you could at least give us the names of the resources and techniques needed to produce Wutaian-style weaponry? While you cannot mass-produce them, I assure you, Shinra will find a way to do so."

Much to my surprise, I _giggle._

"It is simply not in our best interest to aid the Shinra military, Mr. President." As I get up from the too-shiny table and my own too-shiny chair, I add,

"Get a clue and wait to see if the countries you attack could actually be beneficial to you before attacking. We have not forgotten about the Wutaian War. And we are certainly in no position to offer you anything in the way of our secrets in the art of war."

I turn on my heel and stalk out of the room as two cold eyes glare me out the door. This was unlocked? Man, if I'd known, I'd have used my ultra ninja skillz to get outta here earlier… Quick as a mouse, silent as an ant, and stealthy as a fox, Yuffie the Great Materia Ninja Princess can get herself outta any sticky situation. Unless it involves Wutai. Or her dad. Then… she's… stuck.

Unfortunately for me, that kinda had to do with both. Damn, huh.

As I make my way to the chocobo stable, a voice follows me.

"Hey, kid."

"Ci-" I start, about to turn around. But that's not Cid's voice. I turn around anyway.

"Oh, another Shinra brat. What do you want?"

He shrugs. "Just passin'. Thought ya looked familiar is all." He flicks a bit of flaming red hair out of his face, and I'm reminded of Nanaki. Piercing green-blue eyes bore into my forehead. Gawd, does EVERYONE in Shinra have freaky eyes? Or is it just me? Spike was a SOLDIER once, and he has really bright, Mako-y eyes. Vincent was involved with them once, and he's got seriously messed up eyes, too. Hot, but messed up. Oh gawd, no, they're freaky.. And I think Nanaki was a research specimen of some crazy scientist's for a short while, and he's got a really glowy golden eye. The other one doesn't open. Poor guy.

"Dude, what's up with your eyes?" I can't help but ask as I catch myself staring. The guy laughs, surprisingly light-hearted for someone that belongs to such an evil company like Shinra.

"It's Mako," he says, going cross-eyed for a second. "Major headaches a lot. Or maybe that's just the booze. Hey, yah, I remember you now. You're that kid with Elena that got strapped up on that mountain with the faces on it."

I scowl. "Don't remind me."

He laughs again. "Well, nice seeing ya again. Good to see that you got away all right, your team seemed pretty pissed off when they were lookin' for ya." He then walks off, hands shoved in his pockets, whistling some offbeat tune. Weirdo. He's that dude that kicked Corneo off Da Chao. Sheesh… He didn't even flinch when he did it. Seems awful normal for a killer.

"Yuffie… where have you been?"

I stare at the guy coming out of the chocobo room and then dash at him to give him a glomp he'll never forget. Being alone on this ship with all these Shinra people around really makes me nervous.

"Vinnie!" I squeal, nearly knocking him over as I squeeze him in a vice-grip. "Man, this dude just snatched me up outta nowhere and it was Rufus and he talked to me about business deals even though I can't do anything about them because I have no control over Wutai and then this other Shinra brat came up to me and it was the guy from Da Chao that killed Corneo and he talked to me and he was freakily calm for a killer, oh gawd, Vinnie… I feel sick…" After the long breathless string of words spew from my mouth, I feel like spewin' somethin' a little different…

"Ohmygawd… motion sickness…" The ship gives another pronounced lurch, making my insides turn over in my stomach. I fall to my knees, and Vinnie kneels down, placing a long fingered hand down hard on my shoulder.

"Wait here and don't throw up. Tifa may have a Tranquilizer you can use." He goes back towards the chocobo room.

I can feel myself turning that icky throw-up green as the familiar aching of the back of my neck comes to signify the sick starting to arrive. "Okay.. thanks, Vinnie." I huddle in a corner and start rocking back and forth. Gawd.. I hate… ships.. Airships. Ships on the ocean. Just.. let me… die….

Then, it gets worse. Immediately. Sixteen thousand times worse.

The door to my right opens again. The door I just came out of. Rufus steps out. And the first thing he sees is me, of course, trying not to get sick on myself on his airship. Oh, haha, Leviathan. HAHA. THIS IS REALLY FUNNY. Now I can't poke threats at him without thinking about this. Gawd… Doesn't he have somewhere to be? Like in the bathroom cramming needles up his ass? Man, would that be funny…

"Are you well, Miss Kisaragi?" No concern, just a formality. Jerk ass.

"Oh yeahhh," I moan, packing as much sarcasm into my voice as I can possibly manage, despite the rising bile. "I'm quite well, thanks. Even though I'm sitting on the floor of this yucky airship, trying not to barf all over it, I'm just dandy. Thanks for your concern."

He gives me a cold, calculating look, then pulls me to my feet. "You should go visit the medic," he says sharply, not looking at me, but instead, the Operations Room. "There is someone in there that can give you something to help the sickness." Then, he turns away from me and walks up the stairs to the bridge. Evil. Evil evil evil evil evil evil evil evil!

"Yuffie."

"Thanks, Vinnie. You rock."

I hate Tranquilizer. It tastes nasty. It tastes like Zu shit. But it helps, so gotta chug it down. Blech..

After I force down the medicine, my eyelids droop immediately. Thank gawd… I can at least snooze a bit to avoid the barf situation.

"What did Rufus have to say to you?"

I look up at Vinnie through a bleary eye. "Well… He just caught me outside the door about to upchuck whatever I ate last on his airship, so he told me to go see the medic. Then, you came with the nice Tranq….ui..lizer…..zzzzzzzzz….."

The last thing I see that day is Vinnie looking just about as concerned as his plaster face can manage without cracking.

"ChocoCheesy's Cracker Snackwiches," I mutter after my two-hour nap, refreshed and devoid of the urge to lose my lunch. "With Real Cheese."

I cast the medic guy a dubious look and he shrugs. "Hey, don't look at me. You threw up, and now you gotta eat something. Now eat it."

I sigh and pop open the little cellophane package. What WOULD you make cheese crackers with anyway? Fake cheese? Ew.

Just as I'm about to take the whole thing in one big mouthful, Tifa runs into the room with Nanaki at her side.

"Yuffie, we've been worried sick!" she exclaims, nearly cracking my ribs as she wraps me into a bone-crushing hug. "We heard from Vincent that you'd had a run-in with Rufus, and then you were resting in this room, and we shouldn't bother you, and… Oh, Yuffie, be more careful! Rufus is dangerous!"

"K-kack…"

Nanaki nudges Tifa with his head. "Tifa, the girl needs air."

"Oh my goodness, I'm sorry."

PWAAA! AIR!

"….ohmygawd, Tifa, I thought I was gonna die."

"Sorry."

"No problem…"

"So," hisses Tifa in a hushed voice, "what did Rufus do? He didn't hurt you, did he?"

I raise my eyebrows. Sure, I thought he was kinda creepy and super cold, but not necessarily dangerous. Especially not with a bloody nose and a bleeding lip and his two front teeth on the precarious border between staying planted in his mouth and falling straight out of his head.

"No… Is he really that dangerous?"

Tifa shakes her head frantically, glancing a wary eye at the medic, who's obviously trying to eavesdrop.

"Well, you'd probably be able to get off all right if you two fought, but he has the might of Shinra behind him. What he may not be able to do alone, certainly his company can. And if he decides that he's angry with you, he will have no mercy. You'll be in really bad trouble, and so will Wutai!"

Kinda sounds like she took the words right outta Vinnie's mouth. He probably told her to tell me that..

"I know, Tifa."

"Kay."

They leave me alone then with no one to keep me company except the nosy medic to eat my "real cheese crackers" in my own head. Silently, I finish them, thank the medic, and wander on towards the bridge. I think I need to talk to Rufus a bit more. Even if I don't like him, he could be a serious threat to Wutai. Since my dad won't acknowledge it, and if I refuse to… we're screwed. Definitely screwed. And if we're so screwed, when my old man goes, I'M screwed. Really screwed. Really, really, really screwed. So, I gotta do something now, I guess. Now, or never.

This is my Wutai. Even if it only holds sour memories and bitter losses for me, it's my Wutai.

I intend to protect it.

Man, I am _so_ hot damn cool. Bow, Wutai. Bow before your almighty ruler because she is _so godly, frickinly awesome for saving all your touristy asses._

"HEY! MR. PRESIDENT! Got somethin' to say to you!"

Of course, I act without thinking. It's usually the best way of doing things, because USUALLY, I'd be good and dead if I stopped to think. So, naturally, I acted without thinking. Man, I am such an idiot…

The moment I bust onto the bridge, shouting for all the airship to hear, about sixteen pairs of eyes focus on me, each of them belonging to a Shinra brat or a Shinra brat crewmember. And suddenly, for maybe the first time in my life, I regret making such a bold entrance. Bold entrances are quick and to the point. They've never failed me. But…

"Who is this… thing?" asks a snippy sounding woman to off to the right. I snap my slightly embarrassed, but mostly determined (at least I hope it is), gaze onto her, and my eyes just BUG OUT.

Lotsa makeup. Overdone hair, frizzy from huge amounts of peroxide. Heels to challenge the height of the Pagoda of the Five Mighty Gods. A burgundy dress that I'm thinking is made of less fabric than my underwear. And the HUGEST frickin' boobs I've seen in my entire life. Gawd, one o' those must be bigger than my entire HEAD. GROSSNESSS!

The assorted people on the bridge break out into a chorus of mutters, amongst of which I catch, "must be one of the rebel bastards," and "is that a girl?" and "…interesting, she would make a fine specimen", as I engage in a staring contest with the slutty boob lady. Gawd, I hope I got that last remark about the specimen thing wrong…

"Miss Kisaragi." breaks in that familiar icy voice as Rufus Shinra strides towards me, looking very, very serious. (uh oh.) "Was there something you needed to discuss?"

"Kya ha ha ha ha!"

The slutty boob lady explodes into peals of high-pitched giggles, each of which don't really fit her at all.

"Kisaragi? KISARAGI? This little slip of a girl-," she laughs derisively, jabbing a finger with a freakishly long red talon in place of a fingernail in my direction, "- is the daughter of Lord Godo Kisaragi of Wutai? Please! Kya ha ha ha ha ha!"

All the other Shinra brats are turned to stare at her now as she leans over in fluttery breathless giggles, her gigundus boobs making themselves even more pronounced. Ew. Ew. Grossness. I turn away from her to spare my sight. That is just gross.

"Yes," I hear Rufus say blandly, his eyes slowly burning holes into the back of my head, "this is the Lady Kisaragi of Wutai. Please treat her with respect, Scarlet. If we are to ever make weapons deals with the Wutaian people, it will likely be a negotiation between her and you."

My eyes grow even larger. No. No wayyyy. NO WAY IN HELLLLL AM I NEGOTIATING WITH THAT SLUTTING BITCH. Rufus is one thing. B-But… that…. AARGH!

"W-wouldn't it be best for her to talk to my ol-, I mean, Lord Godo about this, Mr. President?" I question timidly, in a much more subdued tone. It scares me at how humble and sad I sound. Gawd, I'm losing my touch.

"I thought that you had something to speak to me about, Miss Kisaragi?"

"Uh…" I scramble around in my mind, not exactly remembering what I was gonna say. Gawd, what's wrong with me…

"Uhmm… uhh…"

"Yuffie!"

Oh, thank Leviathan!

I whip my head around, an expression of maybe what's a little too much happiness on my face.

"Vinnie!"

"Yuffie, what are you doing here, you should be with the oth- " He stops straight in his tracks, eyes round and wide as platters. His face then melts very quickly into a bestial, twisted, very evil-looking form of utter and complete hatred as he glares his harshest death glare (10 on the VTDG Scale) right past me at someone.

"_**Hojo."**_

Hojo? Hojo. Hooooojooooooo. HojoHojoHojo.

Ohhh. Hojo.

Mad scientist dude.

"Well, lookie who's here!" exclaims a voice made of pure slime behind me with a little high chuckle. "Vincent Valentine! My dear, _dear_ Turk friend. My goodness, I never even thought I'd have the sheer _luck_ of seeing you again."

Vinnie's eyes begin to glow a harsh, bloody color, I swear. And his furious scowl doesn't falter, not once.

"Likewise." he clips, and a drop of his blood runs out of his hand as he tightens his fist hard enough so that the nails break the skin. However, he doesn't even seem to notice.

They stand there for what seems to be several minutes, Vinnie shooting poisoned, electrified, diamond-sharpened MASAMUNES out of his eyes at Hojo, and Hojo just standing there, looking amused as if looking at a little rat of which he knew that he had trapped in a box, and there was no way out. And for the first time in a long while, I feel scared. Normally, I feel safe with Vinnie. He's the impenetrable man. But here's this guy that bested even Vinnie, and might as well be laughing at him.

But before any other words are said, Slutty Boob Lady interrupts the tense moment.

"Vincent Valentine? A Turk? I remember you, my father used to talk about you. The Turk who had no feelings, nothing but an empty soul in a seemingly empty body. A killer, huh? Heard a lot of things from Reno about you, he absolutely worships you. Kya ha! Wait till he hears. His beloved idol was shot down by an arthritic old coot of a scientist."

But he isn't paying attention, his "glare of certain impending DOOM" focused solely on the smug scientist before him. I get the vibe, telling me to LEAVE.

"Come on, let's go, Vinnie." I tug gently on his sleeve, and to my surprise, he allows me to lead him off of the bridge by his metallic wrist. Behind me, hushed voices hiss the criticism of everything about us, and I can still see Hojo's confident little grin and the stuck-up giggle of Scarlet rings in my ears. For some reason, I don't think I'll be forgetting this for a while…

First real taste of Eastern aristocracy, I suppose.

Silently, Vinnie and I go back into the chocobo cabin where a crew member directs us to a different cabin in which the others are resting. Just before I shut the door, I can see the red-headed guy in the suit pass on the other side of the ship, going towards the stairs leading to the deck. A metal rod rests on his shoulder, with a button on the handle I can only guess that electrifies the thing. A nightstick.

"Hey Vinnie?"

"Yes?" His voice is strangely hollowed, as if he had just walked across a hair-thin wire five thousand feet above the ground.

"What do blue suits mean?"

"Blue… suits?"

"Yeah, the Shinra people. Some of them wear dark blue suits. The guys on Da Chao, ya know?"

Vinnie is sitting on a bunk, his hands laid on his knees. He stares at them, wide-eyed with the intensity of a person that just realized that they actually have hands.

"Blue suit.. The Turks?"

My eyebrows raise. Turks? Vinnie was a Turk. Does that mean that he killed like that man did? Remorseless? Completely devoid of any scruple, black hearted… cruel… Scarlet said… she said he had no feelings… no soul.

But that's not Vinnie at all. I bet he's a passionate person underneath that red cloak and crap. I bet he values life over anything!

Well..

Maybe not. We DID find him in a COFFIN, anyhow. Eh heh…

Scratch that thought.

I sigh and shrug as if I thought it was no big deal.

"No big deal, Vinnie."

A knock comes at the door.

"And it seems I have some unfinished business. Later, Vinnie!" I blow him an exaggerated kiss, but as I close the door, he actually says something.

"Be careful, Yuffie."

And for some reason, I blush, tips of my toes to the roots of my hair.

So we're back at that table. That too-shiny table. And those too-shiny chairs. I skim the document and shake my head as Rufus looks on. I can't do this. I have no authority over this. My dad would KILL ME. KILL-ME. With a butter knife and some tongs. I weigh the options. If I signed this thing, it would make enough income for Wutai in order to build up a large, professional army. My dad would never do such a thing because it would mean unnecessary involvement with Shinra. Honestly, I don't like the Shinra either. But as long as they're offering… we can milk it for all it's worth… But on the other hand, signing this would release all of our armoring and weaponry secrets to our rival. They could overpower us… crush us with our own arms. And then that nice paid army would actually have to go into action. Also, they'd probably lose. As much as I hate to admit it, Wutai's forces are still recovering from the war all those years ago. We're weaker than the Shinra now, and I'm betting that Rufus knows it. Damn it.. I swore that I'd save Wutai. I swore it! This could do it… but it could destroy us. And then, I'm totally screwed…

"I see that you are troubling yourself coming to a decision."

"No shit, Sherlock."

"Would you like to discuss it over dinner with me in Junon?"

"No way in hell am I going out with you, Shinra-shit. Now shut up so I can argue with myself."

"As you wish, Miss Kisaragi…"

Honestly, I can sign this. I could sign it, and it would actually have validity. As second in line for the throne, I do have the ability to enact economic decisions for Wutai. But Godo wouldn't be happy. He'd be pissed. Wayyyy pissed, even if it did revive Wutai, because he can never admit that he's wrong.

"I have a question."

"Yes?"

"What does this gain for your company?" I ask, eyes narrowed. "You have satisfactory weapons and armor. But your power is in the sheer size of your army. Why would you need such specialized weaponry like Wutai's? It would make it very difficult to maintain that military because each of your soldiers would need to go into training. Besides, you rely on firepower, whereas Wutai relies on the blade and the art of ninjitsu. This decision makes no sense for you. You have absolutely no use for our materials."

Rufus chuckles a laugh that I can't really describe as a chuckle, but I just did, so there. It's a cold laugh. But I guess it's his version of a chuckle. Meh.

"Miss Kisaragi, this is not so much as to relieve your country of its weapons and armor as it is to create some sort of link between Wutai and Shinra. My father was stupid. He wanted Wutai as a tributary state, long ago, thus starting the war between you and us. However, it was thrown back in his face when his colossal army was defeated by Wutai's greater military tactics. What I want is not for Wutai to become part of my company, but an alliance."

"What would an alliance with a dying country do for you?"

He frowns and meets my eyes with his evil piercing ice-slits of doom that pass as his eyes.

"Quite the contrary, Miss Kisaragi. The country itself is faltering, but the land is some of the most fertile in the world besides that of the Northern Continent."

I slam the pen down and stand up quickly from my chair, a disgusted look on my face. "No way!" I cry, horrified. The image of the Mt. Nibel reactor pops into my mind, and I imagine the red torii and shoji doors of Wutai disappear, replaced by the monstrous machines. "No way!" I repeat, backing away from the table. "My Wutai won't be another place for you to put your disgusting, nasty Mako-sucking machines! It won't! It won't!" I run from the room like I had done before, and slam the door behind me. I can feel the effects of the Tranquilizer lifting, my step becoming less sluggish, but the sick feeling returning. Or maybe that's just the image of Wutai becoming barren and deserted as Mako reactors overtake its land. First the trees would dry up and die… and then the stream running through the city, and then, one by one, each of the districts of my beautiful country would shut down and become empty as the land would become unliveable.. Gawd, I am so glad I didn't make the wrong decision.

I must be freaking insane. Here I am, trying to be all grown up and shit… when growing up has to be the worst thing that happens to a person. It's like diving headfirst into _oblivion._ Grahh.

"We are currently located above Junon Harbor. Please gather your belongings and make your way to the deck."

Ugh. Finally.

I meet up with Vinnie and the others, and we go up to the deck together. I wonder what happened to Tifa and Barret? They must be ahead of us.

But when we get off the ship, I discover that they aren't.

"Where did Tifa and Barret go?"

Vincent looks vaguely confused, which is a new facial expression for him. "They left a couple minutes before us, but they said that they would meet us when we landed."

Cid looks around. "Well, they aren't !$in' here. Don't suppose they went off already."

I shrug. "Want me to PHS 'em?" I ask, digging the little phone out of my shorts pocket. I quickly dial Tifa's number and hold the thing up to my ear expectantly. But after six rings, the voicemail picks up and I close the call. Barret… I then dial his number, but his voicemail picks up, too. Something weird is going on, I just know it…

Cait Sith bounces up to us, a strange expression of worry on his feline face. "Something's wrong!" he exclaims, panicked. "Tifa and Barret have been taken prisoner!"

"WHAT?" I yell at the machine, earning a slight squeak when I grab it by the neck. "By who? Why? What in the hell?"

But in turns out that he doesn't need to answer as a familiar snooty giggle resonates through the streets of Junon over a freakishly loud loudspeaker.

I kick lightly at the cupboard in the hotel room despairingly. According to the television, Tifa will be put to death in Scarlet's gas chamber in fifteen minutes. What can I do…? Not panic, not panic, not panic. Man, why isn't Spike here? We'd already have escaped this place with Tifa and Barret by now! But, nooo, he wanted to go swim in the green jello pudding, also known as the Lifestream. Damn him… Damn this! Damn it, damn it, DAMN IT!

"DAMN IT!"

Vinnie looks at me sharply as I throw myself onto my bed and start annihilating pillows. Damn pillows, you were probably paid for by Shinra, damn hotel, damn city! It reeks of this stupid company! Even though I can't see him, I can clearly imagine Vinnie shaking his head at me.

"Yuffie, are you going to do something?"

My eyes pop open and I sit up quickly and stare at him, bewildered. Normally, I'd expect him to say, "Taking actions will result in unwanted consequence. It's best to allow them to deal with this themselves," or, "If they truly wish to die at the hands of Shinra, they will. However, they have strong wills and know what the right decision is." Sometimes, I think he has this suicidal view of the world, like everyone REALLY wants to die but are just shopping around to find the coolest way to do it. Pessimistic, but totally Vinnie. But now he's asking me if I am going to do anything. Well, of course! But what could I possibly do…? Ohh… Hehehe. An image of a certain spiky-headed guy in a dress pops into my mind.

"Say… Vinnie?"

". . . . . .yes?"

"Heh heh… Have you ever reaaalllyyy wanted to wear a dress?"

"No. What does a dress have to do with this situation?"

"Welllll, it's awfully common knowledge that Shinra execs are totally into hot ladies.. And I'm kinda too manly, but you'd be perfect! We stick you into a dress, make you all pretty and shit, then we'd have no problem sneaking into the big Shinra building! The guards would probably think you were a hired short-skirt secretary or somethin', and we'd get through juuust fine. Hehehe."

"No."

"But-!"

"No."

I grumble and flop back down onto the bed. "Fine. If you've got a better idea, then spill it." Eleven minutes left… Crap..

* * *

Uuuughh… National History Day is biting me in the butt.. As is Science Fair. Ow. Owwwww… 

Éclair-chan,(I know your pen name here is different, but I'm lazy and can't remember.. soo…) thank you for chasing me down on DeviantArt and reminding me that I need to work on this. Heh. Oh, and happy birthday. I know I'm not supposed to be leaving you a response here, but if they find a problem with it, I'll take this down. Okay? Okay! Thanks again.


	9. Rescue and The Mideel March

The Materia Hunter- Ninth Chapter: Rescue and The Mideel March

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VII.

Author's Note: I am very, very sorry for leaving this for so long. School is rough. Life is rough. And I was going through some kind of troubling life transitions, but I won't use this to whine and moan about them.. heh. Thank you for your understanding. I was pleased to find no flames about "abandoning this shitty fic" or anything of the sort. I don't know if I was expecting them or not, but I probably deserve them. Please enjoy this chapter!

* * *

_Knock, knock, knock_.

I rush to the door and yank it open, panicked.

Cait Sith bounds in and I stare.

Twirling happily, he lets out a giggle, and I feel sick. My friends are counting down minutes until they get gassed to death by that Scarlet bitch and that damn Shinra cat is laughing at me.

"Good news, folks!" he announces, waving a bright yellow megaphone around above his head. I stare even harder. What's good news to him is bad news for us, right? Right? Dumb cat! Vincent is standing, staring with amplified coldness. Brr.

"Hey, hey, hey, don't look like that!" says Cait Sith, turning around quickly to look at us both. "I turned off the valve that supplies the gas chamber. It'll take a few days for it to fill again even if they turned it on now, and since Scarlet ran it earlier to make sure that it functioned, it's empty. See? See? I'm not a bad guy, I promise." He pulls himself up into a straight salute, slightly comical from the cat's unusual appearance. And for the first time in about a half hour, I breathe.

_There is a fine line between torment and insanity._

What?

_I know this one guy. He's like a tightrope walker, you know? Always balancing in the dead center of that line. But he's alright._

Huh. Vinnie, right?

_Actually, lots of people. No one is REALLY sane, you know._

Haha! Tell me about it.

_Just do what you have to do, Yuff-chan. Do what you have to do._

But of course! I'm the Great Ninja-

"Yuffie."

_Day One_

Light streams into my cracked eyelids. The chatter of crowds and the bustle of city life in the daytime of Junon Harbor buzzes in my head, and for a second, I see myself back inside my little house in Wutai, peeling back the covers of the deliciously warm futon, dreading the chill I know will greet me. And sure enough, the air of the room makes me cringe slightly as it meets my bare arms. A cruel hand pulls the blankets the rest of the way off of me, and I blink, finding myself inside the hotel at Junon, clad not in a disheveled kimono and a loosely tied obi sash, but in my outfit of shorts and a midriff top, the air conditioned hotel atmosphere positively biting at the rather large amount of skin exposed. I snatch at the blankets that had just been taken away, but the hand folds them back out of my reach. Damn.

"Mornin' Vinnie."

I yawn and stretch as I do every morning, and I slide my legs over the cold sheets, my feet bidding a good morning to the thin carpet of the floor. As I sit there shivering and wishing dearly to just grab the blankets and make a hasty retreat to Costa Del Sleepsomemore, Vinnie tosses something onto the bed. I jump slightly as its weight makes itself known with a clunk. Jingle, jingle. Money, money, MONEY!

"Score!" I cry, leaping to my feet, completely forgetting about sleep. "Gawd Vinnie, I knew you secretly thought I was the hottest thing on the Planet, but you don't need to PAY me to be sexy!"

He gives me an indescribable _look._ Somehow… I don't think the fact that I breathe out sex appeal in place of carbon dioxide is quite the issue here.

"Look," he says simply, and he gestures towards the window. And, oh gawd, how in Leviathan's name did I not notice this earlier…

Those weren't the gentle rays of morning sun blessing my sleepy eyes with a kiss.

Those were _Meteor_ rays.

A great honkin' Meteor looms out there, shining like the hairless spot on my old man's head in the middle of summer.

Oh, shit.

"Wha…" I start, wide eyed and trembling. I sink back down onto the bed and edge backwards a little, as if decreasing my proximity to the window would make the flaming ball of hell in the sky go hurtling back into space. "What is THAT?"

"The time we have left until we must face Sephiroth has become very limited now," Vinnie says, pained.

"Wha.."

"We need to begin preparing. For a short while, Cait Sith has predicted that it will take four more days for the gas chamber to fill, we will collect supplies and a vehicle that will get us into the Crater," he continues, a large amount of stress in his voice that I hadn't caught before. "A long journey we must make in a matter of only a few weeks. Meteor will only take that long before colliding."

Ohh… crap. Freaking cheese doodles. Shitting coppaloombas. We are _officially screwed._

"Vinnie?"

"Hm?"

"We're screwed, aren't we?"

". . . . . . ."

Hahaha. HAHAHA. HAHAHAHAHAHA! Geez. Maybe I should leave and go someplace nice to enjoy my life for a bit until we get squished. I wonder how well I'd tan in Costa Del Sol with Meteor overhead. Oh, how fun.

"Say, do you think we have chance, Vinnie? Honestly?"

As he stands there next to me, he looks down into my eyes, his own eyes showing a mixture of an even deeper sadness than what usually lingers there. Even without him saying anything, I know that he's thinking that we don't stand an icicle's chance in hell of being able to stop Meteor. But for some reason, I feel determined to not waste my life on the beach. We hafta try, right? And then… maybe something can change.

"I know, Vinnie."

"I'm sorry," he apologizes, looking away. "You are very young."

"So what?" I laugh, insanity burning the edges of my words to a fine crisp. "You're like, ancient. And if I'm gonna go, I'm gonna go down fighting with a great frickin' bang! No worries there, Vinnie."

And then I look up at his face, and he does something really weird. Really weird. Even weirder than what he did during the play at the Gold Saucer, and that was pretty darn weird. Everyone THOUGHT he was gonna kiss me or do something mushy. BUT he leaned forward… and kicked the actor in the Tonberry costume in the shin. He got off balance, and since he was holding me, we went twirling out of control of the stage and crashed in a heap in the curtains. Thank god for plush. But that's not the point.. What he does is weird. Seriously weird.

His lips thin. And then, maybe by about a millimeter or so, they turn up at the sides.

Oh.

My.

GAWD.

My eyes bug out of the sockets, but that teeny incline at either side of Vinnie's mouth doesn't go away. The familiar heat rises to my face, but I don't care.

A sad little smile.

"Perhaps you're right, Yuffie."

After eating hastily, me and Vinnie make our way out into the streets of Junon, an uproar of panic flooding the town. Every two seconds, something new booms out from speakers and Rufus' face never once disappears from the giant monitors positioned at the end of each sector. I try not to look at it. Rufus scares me a little.

"Growing up is a really retarded thing, you know that, Vinnie?" He gives me a dubious look, and I laugh. "Well," I start, talking as if the world wasn't about to come to an end. "First you're all youthful and bouncy. It's always so happy, no matter what. And no one cares if you act bratty because that's just the way kids are. But if you become a teenager, you aren't allowed to act like that anymore. It's so dumb. Everyone expects me to be some sort of lady, but I haven't really gotten past the age of eleven! And now I have to try to grow up really fast so…" I pause, my heart plummeting into my stomach.

"S-So I can do.. this."

Vinnie keeps looking ahead of him, but I know he's listening. I know that it's reaaallyy nasty and wrong, but sometimes I wish that we would stick together even after all of this. I haven't really had anyone to talk to like this before. It's a weird sort of sensation, but it's the best feeling to just spill your guts sometimes. Blah!

"I think you act mature beyond your years." He says this slowly, softly, still not looking at me, but I still feel my ears redden. What in the heck is he babbling about?

"For many, it's difficult to admit that they need to change themselves," he explains as we enter a weapons shop. "People do not generally like changing. Instead, they insist that their surroundings change to fit their preferences behind the excuse that having to change oneself is negative."

"Uh… okaaaayy… Thanks. I think.."

Next stop is the accessories and items shop as we emerge from the weapons shop, laden with enough arms to scare passerbys into remaining at least twenty-five feet away from us.

"W-Why do we need so MANY?" I grunt, narrowly catching my balance as my pile of two shotguns, a bazooka-thingy, and a weird looking broadsword with sinister looking spikes lining the blade tilts precariously to the right, then to the left, then to the right again…

Calmly, Vincent shifts his neat stack of gloves, one of my spiral-shaped shurikens, a short spear thingy, and a goofy looking megaphone into the crook of his brass prosthetic arm as he pulls out a list and begins going through it, making his way with me towards the accessories shop. "Do you need me to carry some of those as well?" he asks, eyeing the blade of the sword's progress towards my neck. Without another word, he crumples up the list, stuffs it away somewhere, and lifts the sword out of my arms as if it was a stuffed cotton replica of a sword instead of a great frickin' weapon of death by overexertion in one's arms.

"Oh, uhh, thanks?"

I think the hotel desk clerk person thinks that Vinnie and I are planning mass murder of the entire city. First, we came by to drop off the weapons and several boxes of grenades. About thirty minutes later, we came back with a crate of Shrapnels and a oddly wriggling bunch of M-Tentacles. I hate those things! They're bright green scaly things that wiggle around! And they _glow._ Gross. Ness. I have no frickin' clue as to what they actually are, but when you chuck one at a monster, it's like throwing a stack of greens to a Chocobo. They snap it right up. And then, the monster gets poisoned. Too weird. Trying not to think about it…

Anyhoo, yah. Coincidentally.. the job of buying Materia was left to Cid and Nanaki. Poo.

So we're sittin' here. In the hotel. Surrounded by enough artillery and offensive magic to take out _Midgar._ Nice. And guess what? Here comes Cid. I wonder if he has that Materia on him…?

Nope. Damn.

"So, kid. How good are ya at stealin' airships?"

_Day Two_

I think it's Vinnie's time of the month… He's getting angstier than normal. What a weirdo. Even my old man didn't get as bad PMS as Vinnie. Wow.

"_I wonder where Tifa and Barret are?" I wonder aloud, twisting in my seat to shoot Vinnie a curious glance._

"_Only your deepest nightmares can know," he murmurs darkly, head resting against the windowpane, melancholy eyes focused solely on the street below._

So said the man himself yesterday evening. Maybe it was just the fact that we had seafood platters for dinner. I mean, I'm used to eating a lot of shrimp and fish all at once, but if you don't eat it very often, then suddenly have a whole lot…

..well, it cleans out your system while keepin' you up in the restroom for a while, I suppose you could say.

A nothing day.

_Day Three_

Okay, let's skip ahead. Blah!

_Day Four_

"Are you ready, troops?" I smirk at the group gathered before me. I was BORN to be a leader! Mwahahaha!

"Then………

Let's mosey!"

I really hate to say this, but I kinda miss Spike.

Suit. Check. Dorky skirt. Check. Sunglasses. Check. Pantyhose? Check. Major super wedgie that's included free of charge? Definitely… wince… _check._

I HATE pantyhose. This is the first time I've worn 'em, and I don't care if I never have to wear them again.

"Is this acceptable?" Vinnie opens the door of the bathroom softly, and I snort, nearly falling over with barely suppressed laughter. For Vinnie Valentine is standing right in front of me, dressed in khaki bermudas, a bright red polo, and a backwards sports cap that reads "Junon 105.8" on the front and adjuster. My eyes goggle out as I glance at his feet, neatly adorned in leather sandals and _socks._ Hahahahaha!

"Ohhhh, yesss, Vinnie. Wait… hold on.."

I walk around him with a critical eye, inspecting him like the mother of the bride might inspect the bridesmaids. From the depths of my suit, I tug out a length of slim pink ribbon.

"You'd better not lose my ribbon, Vinnie."

As tightly as I can, I knot his crazy mane of hair into a prim ponytail.

"Perfect! And I'm serious. You'd better not lose that ribbon. Um.. Aeris kinda gave it to me, so take care of it."

"_Dammit! My frickin' shoelace just snapped… Gawd, and right in the middle of this stupid million mile hike, too! I hate long walks…"_

"_Oh gosh, Yuffie. Come here, I'll fix your shoe."_

"_You can heal shoes, too? MAN, you're good. No wonder your clothes don't get all worn after a lot of fighting."_

"_Actually, I just have this extra ribbon you can have to lace your shoe until we get to Gold Saucer. Here, I'll put it on for you. Tee hee! Aww.. Yuffie has cute toes…"_

Oh gawd, I miss her.

My eyes begin to fill, but I try as hard as I can to keep them in. I even avert my gaze to the ceiling to try to stop them from falling, but they do anyway. Gawd, why am I crying now? I hate it when I cry! It's only okay when everyone is crying, too, but this is so STUPID! I won't be able to take on Sephiroth single-handedly if I'm still tearing up about a girl that's been dead for weeks and weeks. Quickly, I turn away from Vinnie so he can't see my face. Won't help if he decides to lecture me about "moving on" and she's "happy in her Promised Land". I know Aeris. And I know that she'd only be happy if she could be with us to see this through, so…

She isn't happy. And Vinnie has NO right to lecture me about moving on.

"Yuffie…"

"If you're gonna tell me to move on, you're one goddamn hypocrite, Vinnie."

The pale, long-ass fingers of his right hand move around from behind me to wipe the tears away from my cheeks.

"I didn't say that."

I sniff and walk away from his hand. "Well," I mumble, not daring to look up at him, "then don't say anything. I know, but I'm just a kid, so I can scream and bawl and sob as much as I want."

"The truth is…. is that you can't. For someone… it is mostly necessary to conceal oneself… or else everything will be expressed outright through your actions."

I throw myself onto the couch. "Why do we have to keep secrets?" I ask, facedown on the cushions. "Why can't we just bare ourselves to the world? Why do we always have to be so private about EVERYTHING? I don't have anything to hide from you, or anyone! So why do I have to hold myself back? Why?"

"You are fortunate. You have no past that would bring shame upon the ears to hear it. You are right. But an ideal such as yours can be only a law for yourself. If I told you all the secrets buried in this cursed mind, I would have to leave. You might even try to kill me. I deserve death."

I squint at him. "You deserve death for SAYING that you deserve death, Vinnie! I know you're a good guy now, so who cares about all that rotting "back in the old days" crap? Never mind. Let's just go, we're gonna be late!"

"This is Junon 105.8's…. umm.. oh yeah, Cherka Boomclose. We have breaking news! Actually, we ALWAYS have "breaking news", but that's only because we want you to tune in longer so you can hear that "breaking news" after we run a ten minute long commercial break…"

"Yuf-… Cherka, the breaking news."

"Oh. Yeah. Uh, well right now, we have a pair o' terrorists locked up in the Shinra Tower, waiting to be horribly, brutally maimed, beaten, tortured, gassed, and chopped up into the rolls of seaweed you guys believe are actually sushi…"

"Y-… _Cherka, _the other news."

"OHHHH! Heh. Guess what, people? Weapon's attacking!"

Boom. Bang. Pow. Honestly, Vinnie's not at all a bad cameraman. Haha, lookit him over there getting a good shot of Weapon swimming in. Ya know, I should be screaming and panicking and peeing my pants in fear, but I'm not. Must be the fact that this is a Shinra city and I don't give a crap if it goes up in flames. Just hope that the others manage to rescue Tifa and Barret in time before the airship takes off. In fact, about seven seconds more….

Six…

Five…

Four….

Three……

Two..

One.

KA-POWWWW!

Hehehehe…. Diversion in order to hijack airship successful! Annnnd… gotta run.

"Bye, people! Hope ya liked your breaking news!"

_(In some broom closet, far, far away…._

_:Ring ring:_

"_Hello? Oh my gosh, this psycho kid just grabbed me and locked-"_

"_You're FIRED, Cherka.")_

Muwahahahaha.

Oh…. My….. Gawd.

"BARRET!" Without really meaning to, I rush up to him and jump on him, glad that he's puffy like a marshmallow and not lanky like Vinnie. If I jumped on Vinnie like this, we'd go toppling to the ground. And then he'd turn into a monster and attack me! Eekk.. Speakin' of Vinnie…

Hey, where'd he go?

One arm still hooked around Barret's neck, my toes dangling six inches off the ground, I dig around in my pack for my PHS, quickly pressing the button that would get Cid on the other end as soon as my hand closes around the little hunk of metal.

"'lo?"

"Cid, Barret's out," I blurt hastily. "Say, do you know where Vinnie is? He was just here.. but then he disappeared! Oh, and Cait Sith is here, too." The mog bounds over to me and tugs me off of Barret.

"I think you might have killed him, Yuffie!"

"Naw, he's alright. Hey. Cid?"

A sound of discontent comes from the earpiece. ", kid, I wasn't in charge of stickin' with Valentine, that's your problem. The airship's set, we'll leave when you get here. Where's Tifa?"

Then I realize it.

"Barret. Where. Is. Tifa."

He looks around quickly, then turns his frightful eyes onto me. "Thass why we gotta hurry, kid! Tifa's still stuck up in that tower!" Suddenly, a deafening blast of wind pummels us to the ground. I throw my hands over my head and roll over into the barrier dividing the coast from the city.

Owch…

"$#&!"

"Double $#&, man! What's going on over there?"

I close Cid's connection, fast. For, staring me right in the eye, is that Weapon. It opens its mouth, one great bulbous eye closing in sinister concentration as a great ball of energy gathers on its enormous blue tongue. I root to the spot. GAWD, I can't move my frickin legs!

"Kid, HIT THE DECK!"

I collapse to my knees just in time to cushion the shockwaves just above my head. An gigantic explosion sounds, making my ears pop. Ow, ow, ow… Stupid Weapon's gonna pay for the eardrum replacement I'm gonna need after this.. As I pry open my eyes, I'm forced to squeeze them shut again as something huge crashes into the water. Salty coldness impacts my back, and I suddenly go rigid. A muffled series of curses signals Barret nearby, also drenched. Luckily, I haven't gone tumbling over the wall to go splishing into the drink. Eww, nasty dirty salty water with Shinra's mako and smog in it. Shinra soup! Hmmm… Shinra soup is best with bits of julienned Rufus in it. But it isn't as good if you only have bits of Scarlet's fake boobs in it. Then it tastes like silicone and anti-aging cream…

I nearly crawl to the airport and let out a moan of dismay when we reach it. The Highwind is there. And I'm getting sick just looking at it… urk..

One big heroic mission later, including a busty damsel in distress dashing to the end of a cannon and making the leap of faith onto a rope dangling fifty feet from the deck of the ship right after having a bitch slap battle with Shinra's head whore-lady… hehe!

Weeellll, it seems that the poor damsel's handsome prince isn't there to greet her, and she's pretty bummed about that. "Let's go find Cloud!" she says. Psh. I wonder what happened to Vinnie? See, I like to keep track of the guy, 'cause once you lose track of where he is, you can never seem to find him unless he wants to be found. And then, he just sorta POOFS into existence right in front of you. I mean, he probably doesn't really go POOF in a big ol' cloud of smoke and glitter, but it's like he comes outta nowhere. I always freak out. But seriously, where IS he? I haven't seen him since we got separated in Junon.

"Yuffie."

"EEEP!" My breath catches in my throat and I jump about three feet forward. Taking a moment to let the adrenaline settle and my heart to stop pounding like a jackhammer, I slowly turn to find…

Guess who? No, really guess.

Vinnie, of course! Buddy old pal o' mine! 'S like finding your sentimentally special stuffed moogle that you used to teeth on under the dresser and feeling a bit guilty for forgetting about it and abandoning it long ago. And then you hug it and give it an especially comfy spot on your pillow until it tumbles off one day and rolls back under the dresser, waiting to be found again. But I don't think Vinnie would appreciate being hugged, placed on a pillow, or shoved beneath a dresser by a Yuffie-claw flailing around in the night.

Unfortunately, Vinnie has found his normal outfit and changed back into it. Darn. I really liked those bermuda shorts. And the socks with sandals look was way to hot to describe. Hahahaha. I wish I'd jacked a camera off some tourist and snapped a photo. Now THAT would have been something. I could print hundreds of copies and sell them! Or I could threaten to post them on every building in Nibelheim if he doesn't give me all his Materia when we're finished "savin' the Planet". Or I could submit it to the newspaper…

But noooo. I was too dumb to see my chance. Ohhhh well. There will be others. Maybe I can manage to get him in a dress before all of this is done with. He knows he can't resist me and my stupendous sexiness. Cue batting of lashes here.

"Soo.. where've ya been, Vinnie?" I ask casually, making my rather hasty way towards the Operations Room. Operations Room equals medic which equals Tranquilizer. And more of those real cheese crackers. Vinnie doesn't look at me, but I think he knows why I'm walking so fast. Omigawd.. gonna.. seriously…. hurl…… His pace quickens and I trot along to keep up. Damn Vinnie and his super psychic-sonic speed chameleon-I-shall-pop-out-at-you-from-the-dark-and-gloomy-shadows-and-scare-the-holy-forking-chocobos-out-of-you-just-because-I-get-this-sadistic-twisted-amusement-out-of-it. Sheesh.

I take my Tranquilizer, and just as I'd hoped, the medic hands me a packet of crackers. I didn't even have to ask. Why is everyone psychic these days? Grahhh! Ohh geez… feeling.. sleepy……… tonberries………

"Zzzzzzz….."

As I snooze, I can still barely pick up sounds and movements around the cabin. First, Vinnie says something to the medic and leaves. Then, Tifa comes in, thanks my comatose sleeping body, pats me on the shoulder gently, then goes away, shutting the door very softly behind her. Cid and Barret pass the door later, shouting like cussing bazookas. But hell, NOTHIN'S wakin' me up now. I like dozing. Everyone thinks you're completely unconscious, but Tranquilizer does this wonderful thing where it puts you in this lovely floating dozing nap that takes away the gurgly nausea that I loathe so very much… A few minutes later, the medic leaves and Vinnie comes in. Hmm….. I can't see the red; he must have taken his cloak off. Damn, I so wanted to see that! A rustle. I think he must be sitting on the floor or something. The silence settles and I can barely make out his breathing, very, very softly. Coming from my left side. Must be sitting on the floor.. on the left….. oh, getting sleepier, shoot..

Veryyyy long silence….

"I'm sorry to have caused you hardship. Please feel well when you wake," he mutters in a half-hoarse whisper before getting to his feet and leaving the room, closing the door twice as softly as Tifa did.

Vinnie says some of the weirdest things. _I'm_ the one who causes _him_ trouble, not the other way around! If I didn't, I'd so lose my reputation as the most delightfully youthful and spiritly member of this team! I mean, c'mon… zzzzzzzzzzz….

According to the medic, I slept for four hours. Not bad, I guess. We're almost there, anyway. Where "there" is, I dunno. But it'd better have Materia. I haven't gotten any in the longest time, and not only am I beginning to have a "sparkly shiny beautiful magical power" deficiency, my dad is gonna be PISSED at me when I get back to Wutai.

It's a rainy day. Normally, I don't like rainy days. But this rain feels weird. It's so warm.. and it doesn't even feel cold when it dries. It feels like this one sensation I had once upon a time… only once..

"_Great Gospel!" Aeris throws her hands up towards the heavens, staff suspended by her magic, luminous and glowing a blinding white. Barely conscious, I blink blood from my eyes and feel strangely comforted by the hot rain pouring down onto us. From the ground beneath my head, singing erupts, flooding my ears and bringing me to my feet. The rain continues, warm and inviting. But a talon slashes at me from my right, and I don't react fast enough to block. However, the skin it appeared to pierce glows in the water, bloodless and white. For several moments, Spike and I simply marvel at the comfort of the water dropping down, and with one final spell, Aeris sends the opposition to its doom._

I miss Aeris so much.

After landing, we make our way off the ship, the rain coming down harder than ever. No one complains though, not even Cid. But…

"Why are we here, out in the middle of nowhere?" I demand, looking first at Barret, then at Tifa. "There's nothing here! Just a plain and a forest! We'd be much better off looking for some good Materia or something."

Tifa shakes her head vigorously. "No, Nanaki says there's a town here in the middle of the jungle. Sometimes things that are swept up into the Lifestream are deposited there. So… just maybe.." She wrings her hands nervously. "Maybe Cloud will be there, waiting for us. Come, let's be strong." The trees behind her rustle in the breeze, the slight wind chilling my skin. I hope he's there… but I can't figure out for the life of me why he would be.

About an hour later, we break onto a definite path in the thick jungle wilderness. "Phew," I grunt, slouching over in exhaustion. "If I have to use my shuriken as a bushwhacker one more time, you guys totally owe me a Mastered Bahamut later on." Vinnie walks wordlessly beside me, not showing the tiniest bit of fatigue. Machineeee-mannn.

"Say, Vinnie?" I say inquisitively, twisting my head to look up at him. "Why did you apologize to me earlier when I was napping in the ship?" I know, I know, he's not supposed to know I was listening. But I'm too curious.

He tries to make voice sound as flat as possible, but I see the instant of strain on his face. "I feel as though I hold you back, Yuffie," he deadpans. Right. Monotone is not Vinnie. He might BELIEVE that a flat, boring voice is his thing, but when he does it, I can tell now that he's covering up something inside. I might be a kid, but I'm not stupid.

Speaking of stupid…

"!#&!" A few paces ahead of us, Cid trips over a root and tangles himself up in a thick clump of brambles on the side of the path. One of the berries growing on the thicket bursts on his face, splattering him with juice a violent shade of magenta. I laugh insanely and stick my tongue out at him as we pass. But Vinnie, appointed fun-ruiner and apparently one of Cid's "homies", pulls him from the thorny bush.

"Damn, Vinnie," I pout, hands on my hips, making me look very much like a pissed-off mom. "You could have at least let me snagged his Materia before rescuing him from the wrath of Mr. Thorn-up-your-ass here. Hmph!"

* * *

This wasn't so good, I'm thinking.. I was reading some of the earlier chapters, however, and I found myself very displeased with those. I should start going back and proofreading/rewriting some of them. 


	10. Reunited Departures

Author's Note: I guess some of you noticed I went a little MIA over the summer, ne? I deeply apologize for this. Lack of motivation, etc.. Kind of turned into a lazy bum, and went through some life transitions. I'm sorry if you had been waiting at all.

* * *

Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy VII or any of its characters.

* * *

The Materia Hunter: Tenth Chapter- Reunited Departures

* * *

Mideel. A quaint little town in the middle of nowhere on an island of thick wilderness. You hafta wonder, how does anyone live here? You can't grow anything much to live off of with all the woods around. It must be hard to land supplies, too. A mystery, I guess… Which means.. Let's ask Vinnie!

"Say, Vinnie?"

"?"

"How do people live here? You can't grow anything or land ships and have stuff trucked up to the town."

"The Lifestream is very active here. It makes this island very fertile. Anything will grow here, forest or not."

Huh. Then, I wonder if a lot of Materia grows here, too? Kekekekeke…

"Materia is not in any particular abundance here, however."

Damn vamp read my mind again…

"If you're gonna read my mind, Vinnie, ask permission first!" Or then he'd know that I secretly think he's a sexy man-beast, and that I still have that MP Absorb that I snagged from him back in Wutai….

"As you wish, but I need that MP Absorb Materia back before we part ways. Cloud would be troubled if he found it missing."

Ohhhh myyy gawwddd, does he KNOW how freaky that is???

Suddenly, I feel this odd sensation. I can't quite place it, but it seems to be coming from my butt..? It almost sounds like sniffing—

I turn around.

"AUGH!" A large hairy mound leaps up at me and a floppy sloppy tongue gives me a great huge slurp up the face. Eew. Behind me, Vinnie reloads his gun with an audible click. Why would there be a monster in the town?

"Vincent, stop! It's just a dog!!" Tifa shouts and I hear her running forward. The great mass of hair releases me and sits in front of me on its haunches, panting. It's… just a dog. Heh. I hate dogs. Yuck, dog germs… I turn around to see Tifa with both arms wrapped around and restraining a decidedly annoyed Vinnie. Hee hee.

"Maybe it's good that Spike isn't here to see this… he'd be so jealous," I snicker, eyeing Tifa slyly. Man, I wish I could do that.. wait….no, he'd probably blow my brains out. Never mind…

"Oh? Sure you aren't jealous, Yuffie?" Tifa winks at me, and I nearly fall over. Vinnie raises an eyebrow as he puts away his gun. I can feel the blood rushing to my face again..

"It's not like I like him."

"It is not as if she likes me."

We say this at the same time, earning an evil little "tee hee hee…" from Tifa. Oh, geez…

Up ahead, two old ladies converse in hushed voices, of course, doing nothing to satiate my curiosity… I listen intently… just because.

"-poor kid."

"-got a head of this big spikey hair."

"-washed up the other day, from the Lifestream.."

"-lucky to be alive, the poor guy."

"-funny thing is that huge sword he was carrying.."

"WHAT?" Tifa lunges herself away from us and tears up the road, quickly reaching the women and grabbing one by the shoulders, panic and hope written across her flushed face. "I mean, I'm sorry. Could you repeat that, what you just said? About the boy that washed up here from the Lifestream?"

"Oh! My.. goodness, you startled me, dear." The woman was clearly shaken by Tifa's sudden outburst. "Well, a few days ago, a young man with curiously spikey blonde hair washed up just off the shore. A couple of our fishermen found him and carried him back up here, to the clinic just over yonder." She pointed up the road at a small white building, and Tifa nodded, eyes wide. "The doctor said he had severe Mako poisoning, so everyone assumed that the Lifestream had deposited him out on the beach. Who knows how long he was out there, though… could have been days. Doctor said he's lucky to be alive."

Strangely, I find that I haven't been breathing. I guess I was kinda hoping we'd find Spike… not that I care, it's just that he was packin' some mega mucho Materia, baby! Hahaha….ha…. okay, I give in, I was a little worried there for a sec about him being left in the cave and all that stuff, but it was only a second! A second!! No, half a second!!! HALF A SECOND! ….. Stop staring at me. No. Seriously. Stop itttt. ……. Okay, okay, okay, I was really anxious. Concerned. Worried. I dunno why. Guess we've all become kinda close, gotta stick together, right? Besides, Spike's the team leader. We can't go on 'moseying' without him. And if he died, that would be one less psycho multiple personality disordered crazy nutcase in the world. Which would be bad, because we need them. Why am I explaining myself? Argh. WHY AM I TALKING TO MYSELF? ……. Shut up, me.

"Shutting up…"

Vinnie gives me a look. Ulp.

"Nothin', Vinnie-baby, nothin' at all. Time for a visit to the doctor's!"

"What did you just call me?"

"I called you Count Vincula, of course. Always have. GAWD, you are so ignorant. Let's go already!" Heh, the thing about Vinnie is that I can mess with him all I want, and he's not allowed to hurt me. That'd be SO out of character. Hahaha. Too fun. But it really is unhealthy. I mean, if I had that much self-control, I wouldn't be Yuffie. I'd be "High Princess Yuffie Kisaragi-sama of the Great Empire of Wutai". I'd MUCH rather be the "Sexilicious Materia Huntress Ninja Queen of Mystery and Mummified Jam". Besides, it's longer. And hotter. And cooler. Wait, that makes no sense.

"After you."

He's holding the door open and waiting for me. Sheesh..

"Gawd, Vinnie, haven't you ever heard of the saying, "Ladies first"??"

"?"

"LADIES FIRST. Gawd. So? You go before me! Duh." Inwardly cackling, I take the door from him and shove him inside the clinic.

"Cloud…"

We stand at the edges of the clean white room around a seemingly lifeless figure lying on a cot. Tifa kneels down beside him and lays her ear against his face, shaking her head in despair. Quickly, I go to her side and look down at him, his eyes lightless and glassy, lips barely moving with incoherent speech from deep in his throat.

"He has a very advanced case of Mako poisoning," sighs the doctor, flipping through pages on an aged clipboard with a cracked clip. "I don't know why he is alive except for the fact that he seems to have been showered with Mako in the past, probably from the process SOLDIERs undergo, right? The look in his eyes showed me that, but even a SOLDIER ordinarily would not have been able to withstand such a high exposure. There is something very strange or special or determined about your friend here, but unless he recovers on his own, he may not come back. Mako poisoning is a very strange disease. We don't know a great deal about it. Most people lose their minds at a point." Tifa shook her head again and looked up.

"He'll get through this. He always does."

"Yeah," I chime in, "I haven't known Spike here as long as Tifa has, but I can tell he's one tough cookie." Vincent nods slightly, eyes fixed on Cloud's empty ones, an odd look on his face. If Vinnie has odd looks, that is.

"I'll be out in just a minute, okay, guys?" Tifa looked up with sad eyes, and a pang of something shoots through my heart. Hm.

"Kay, we'll be right outside…" I give her a small smile, and with one last look at Cloud, now completely comatose, I gently open the door to the clinic. From behind, Vincent takes the door from me and waits for me to leave before turning briefly to give Tifa a nod, then leaving himself, shutting the door with a tiny click. Feeling oddly empty inside, I plop down on the ground outside the white building and absentmindedly stroke a patch of crunchy grass next to my hand. Spike… I've never seen him look so weak, so detached, or so hopelessly pathetic. It's the not the kind of pathetic you can laugh at. It's like a completely retarded person in a school, trying to fit in right, but just can't because he's different. Everyone sees how different he is, but can't accept him as even human because of it. Horribly, sadly, helplessly pathetic. That's how Spike is now.

"Yuffie."

I look over at Vinnie, now sitting next to me. He looks as usual, bland expression, but trouble in his eyes. A dark cloudiness behind the feral red.

"Here." He hands me a thin green can, the words "Protein Boost" printed across it in bold black letters. "The nurse said you looked thin and fragile, so she requested that you drink this."

I laugh bitterly. "I look the same as always, but whatever. I bet this'll be gross, though." I pop open the can and take a sip, bracing for energy drink bitterness or medicinal drink chalkiness, but it's sweet and creamy, like a shake. Reluctantly, I set the can down on the ground and stick out my tongue. "Tastes like crap," I lie, making faces. Why I'm trying to hide stuff, I don't know. Don't ask me. But Vinnie the mind reader will get to me, I just know it.

"She was right. You do look thin."

"Psh, liar. Just because my waist is smaller doesn't mean my butt isn't bigger."

He gives me a teensy bit of a sad look, then shakes his head. "I wish you'd take better care of yourself and not try to work so hard while making it look like nothing."

I scowl at him. "What the crap are you talking about, Vinnie, I can't even carry my own weight around here anymore, 'specially now that Spike's out for the count, Ae-Aeris, too." I stumble a bit over her name, feeling the choked up sadness coming back. Forcing it down, I mumble, "…besides, why do you care, you don't even have to be human anymore if you don't want to be." Expecting him to be angry, I turn away, back tensed.

But he isn't angry.

"I used to hate being human. Sometimes I felt like I should have become a SOLDIER instead of a Turk, since they are partly mutated into becoming something else…. not human. Sometimes I would be afraid while on missions, or wouldn't be able to go in for the kill. I always blamed it on the fact I couldn't do anything about my humanity, and I hated it. But now, I'm fighting to hold onto what little humanity I have left. Ironic, isn't it. The fear I used to feel for my life has multiplied, the urge to kill something overpowering, worse than hesitating with my finger on the trigger. But that fear and the need for blood gave me appreciation for the place I am in right now, still able to masquerade as a human, a shred of humanity screaming at me to cling to the people I am close to, so I don't kill them, too. I am afraid for you… Yuffie."

Not too often we get a speech.

"You're like my dad, Vinnie, always telling me that I take too many things for granted. Now I'm taking my own humanity for granted. What am I supposed to say to that? "Gosh, I sure am lucky that I have a normal body to feed and give sleep to." Sorry if I'm sounding bitter, Vinnie, I wish Spike was okay…"

"Yes… His condition is severe. We cannot help him now, however, Tifa would rather fall into a never ending hole than not try to help him, I am thinking.. She would best remain here for a while."

I scrunch up my face. "We're leaving Tifa behind? What are we going to do?"

"We'll manage. There is much to do. We just need to know where to go."

I look away, pouting. I don't want to leave Tifa behind. But… I guess Vinnie's right… She'd rather be here, with Spike. If she came, she'd just worry about him all the time. And then she'd be depressed.

"Hey, Tifa?" I poke my head around the doorway to Cloud's room.

"Oh… Yuffie, it isn't time to leave already, is it?" Tifa looks at me, one hand on Spike's forehead, prominent worry lines on her own forehead. Gawd, she's gonna have a zillion wrinkles by twenty-three is she keeps this up…

"No, actually, we're going to leave you here with Spike if that's okay. We thought you might be better off here so you can monitor his condition, etc, etc.."

She first looks surprised, then all smiley and weird… Oookaay….

"Thanks, Yuffie."

"No prob." I smile back at her, feeling all warm and fuzzy inside. Gross, right? Ah, shuddup, I like it. Hehe.

"See you later then, Yuffie. I'll call if anything comes up."

I give her a devilish look. "Expect me to call first!" I sigh in mock exasperation. "I'm gonna get so frickin' bored with no one but moldy oldy Vinnie to keep me company." Jabbing a finger threateningly at Cloud, perfectly asleep, I let my eyes get big and scary, then say in a low voice, "You'd better get better soon, or I will pull the plug on you for lack of anything more interesting to do… mweeheeeheeheee.."

Tifa laughs, then shoos me off with her hand, "Better get going Yuffie, Vincent's waiting for you out in the waiting room, isn't he? I'll talk to you later. Thank you so much for everything."

"Anytime! Later." I wave, then walk back out of the room, a smile on my face. She's so dedicated to him. If I had to sit all day, watching a person lie perfectly still, I'd be tempted to grab the nearest scalpel and stab myself in the head. But Tifa actually wants to do it. Sheesh…

"Oh, Yuffie." Vincent looks at me as I emerge from Spike's room, blinking. "I'll wait for you outside, the nurse wished to speak with you." He turned and walked out. Inwardly, I was screaming, "NOOO! DON'T LEAVE ME WITH A FREAKY DOCTOR AND HIS NURSE FROM HELL!!" But he didn't hear. Grah. So much for mind reading.

"Your name is Yuffie, isn't it? What a cute name for such a cute girl!" says the nurse in a kind voice with a soft smile on her face. I nod barely, twitching slightly. I. Hate. Doctors. Wahh…

"That man was asking about you," she continued, still smiling. "I had told him you looked malnourished, and he acted worried, so I told him not to worry too much. But that gives you a responsibility, Yuffie. He explained to me that you have probably been under a lot of stress lately, with a lot of action and the death of a friend.. I want you to be strong and make sure not to put yourself under too much strain. Even if you don't realize it, what you seem to be going through is far more than any girl your age ever has to do. Make sure you eat enough, sleep enough, and keep pushing forward, okay? Everything will be alright in the end." Behind the nurse, the doctor types away at a computer, making a strangely comforting background melody of clicking. I don't think I'm doing too much. I've always had to fend for myself, and this isn't much different, I guess. But I did lose a bunch of weight after Aeris died. I didn't want to admit it, and I didn't think anyone would notice if I had dropped a few pounds. Maybe it was because I didn't know why. But… now…

"The man… Vincent is his name, right? He cares about you an awful lot, Yuffie. Even though he doesn't look like the type to show it, he notices when there's something wrong and worries. So make sure you're alright so he won't worry. Is he your brother?"

My eyes widen and I shake my head frantically. Hahaha, if we were siblings… he would have shot himself by now out of annoyance..

The nurse giggles. "Oh, I get it, then. Good luck."

My eyes get bigger. "Huh?? No, not like that, lady, he's way too icky for me!"

She laughed more audibly this time, earning a twitch from my eyebrow. "Icky? I thought he was rather handsome, even if a little vampish. Put him in a nice suit, and I'd say we'd have a few hundred girls lining up for him!"

I blush and look away. "Umm, I'm not really interested.. that's all. Thank you for talking to me though. Take care of Tifa and Cloud for me, and don't let Tifa spend too much time with him.. she might go bonkers after a while. See ya." Keeping my head low, I leave the clinic, the nurse still smiling after me. What's up with her? Scared me.. I mean, I think Vinnie's hot, but not the kind of hot I like… I think. He needs one of those tall, angelic looking girls with perfect blue eyes and wavy light blonde hair that comes down to her butt. That'd be the perfect cliched "dark angel light angel" manga that is the bestseller for five months in the comic book store because the characters are hot beyond compare and everyone just loves them and their quirkiness. Psh..

I meet up with Vinnie and the others at the edge of town, and we venture off back into the woods to get back to the ship.

"Onward, Vinnie, we need to find you a hot blonde chick."

"…….."

Back in the airship, Cid has somehow officially named himself "King Highwind" and is talking angrily with an apologetic Cait Sith. Voices are coming out of his megaphone, so I'm guessing they're spying over there on the Shinra geezers.

"#$#&ing Materia'll be the death of us all, I swear. Where's the first one?"

"Materia? It's so shiny and pretty and powerful, though!" I exclaim, running over to them to listen to the megaphone.

"—we must retrieve Huge Materia from the Corel, Fort Condor, and Underwater Reactor locations. Send soldiers to these areas in case there is resistance. Dismissed."

Huge… Materia?

"$#&#." Cid crushed his still lit cigarette in his gloved fist and threw it to the floor. "Guess we gotta stop them. Where d'ya all wanna go first? Think we should go to Corel first? Or Fort Condor?"

"Maybe we should split up and get both locations at once," suggested Cait Sith. Everyone nods and I think. Fort Condor? Or Corel? Barret's gonna wanna go to Corel, and Cid will probably go with them since they're such buddies, hehe, and I don't want to be stuck with them. Nanaki and Cait might go to Fort Condor. Maybe I should go with them.

"Alright, people, we're splitting up. Me and Barret are goin' to Corel. Nanaki and Cait, you're taking Fort Condor. Vincent and Yuffie, you are going to find this Underwater Reactor. Figure Vincent might be better at that sort of crap; none of us knew Shinra even had a $#&$in' underwater reactor thinger." Cid cursed one last time before lighting up again and making me gag.. "Move out!"

Soo.. I guess I didn't have much of a choice, huh. Did I mention I hate water? On a ship floating on top of it… barfy. Probably the same in a submarine under it…. barfy. I hope, hope, HOPE that there will be no "exciting submarine fighting action" here… If there is, I swear, I will make Cid prematurely bald with the use of my trusty, rusty hidden razor…..hehehe.

Slowly, I saunter up to Cid and go on tiptoe leaning forward so I can speak right into his ear… probably deaf by now because of age, but whatever..

_"One day, you will wake up bald…"_ I whisper eerily, then skip away with a creepy little giggle, his eyes wide and scared. Hahaha. This is fun.

"Hey, Vinnie?"

"?"

"Where are we supposed to go?"

"I don't know.

"Then what do we do?"

"Whatever Cid tells us to do."

"…oh."

I sit down against the wall of the ship as it begins to shudder with the force of takeoff. I hate this airship… ugh.. It picks up speed, and I start rocking back and forth, eyes tightly shut. Underwater Reactor…. Underwater Reactor… HONESTLY! Does that old man wanna KILL ME?! Stupid Cid…

Leaning over a bit, I lurch forward suddenly and convulse slightly, my insides curling in on themselves in a nasty retching rhythm. Underwater Reactor…. Underwater Reactor…

Vincent gets up and walks away. Oh. How very convenient for him. Such a kind, compassionate person. I fold myself up into a Yuffie-ball, face contorted in what is probably something resembling the marriage of a Malboro and a squashed red bean bun. The ship shudders underneath me, and I squeak out a moan. Gawd, it's bad today… What DID I eat for breakfast?! Oh gawd, Underwater Reactor…

"Yuffie."

I squint up through a crack in my arms, tightly gripped around my knees with my face stuck between them. Vinnie's back…. burghh….

Noticing my obvious discomfort and green-ness, he continues without further acknowledgement. "Cait Sith has information concerning the whereabouts of the Underwater Reactor."

I groan, feeling a fresh wave of sick coming on. Really, can't he freaking see I couldn't care about the freaking Underwater Reactor less? Unless it involves me and getting a fifty kilometer restraining order against it…

"Since the security measures are such that only qualified Shinra personnel can enter, Cait Sith and Nanaki have been reassigned to that job, and we are to handle Fort Condor."

I nod furiously. The nausea won't go down, but what a relief… No Underwater Reactor for Yuffie-chan, no sirree. Firstly, there's water. Water does not equal Yuffie's friend. Water equals sea. Sea equals seasick. And seasick equals misery. Not just for me, either, but also for the person who I decide to get sick ON. Which, would have been Vinnie, if Cait Sith had not saved me. I should thank him later. Maybe I'll buy him a bag of cotton stuffing to eat.

"The Fort will be dangerous. There is a battle there. You must be very careful." Three separate sentences. Short, monotone sentences, like as if he was talking about the weather.

"Vinnie, I'll be okay. I won't stress or work too hard or anything, so don't feel like you have to care about how I'm doing or anything weird like that, okay? It's not hard being lazy, right? Hahaha."

The speed steadies. If I was near a window, I'd hurl right here and now..

"I have to care about how you're doing because we are allies, and it is my responsibility to do so."

"Allies? Aawww, gosh Vinnie, don't get all mushy on me now!" Sarcasm.

"…………"

"Ahahahaha…ha.. blearg…" I lay down and roll over onto my side to face the wall. I hate airships. I hate airships. I HATE AIRSHIPS!! And.. did I mention that I. Hate. Airships?

"Do you feel ill?"

"Gee, naw, Vinnie, I'm in the fetal position against a dirty cold metal wall because I think I look sexy like this and am hoping to seduce you so you'll fall in mad monkey love with me. Of course I "feel ill", ugh…. I hate airships more than anything.."

"Take this." Vinnie hands me a small vial with a dozen or so bright purple pills inside.

"Heartburn medicine?"

He shakes his head, "They're for airsickness. The nurse gave them to me."

I eye him suspiciously as I knock one of the pills out into my open palm. "Just how much does this nurse know about me exactly…?"

"We were just talking for a short time."

"Right." I pop the fat purple pill into my mouth and swallow it dry. Ack…

"Use this." A green can flies through the air from Vincent's hand into my lap.

Protein Boost.

"Ugh, this again?" I groan, popping it open a little too eagerly to match my words. I gingerly take a gulp. It just seems wrong to enjoy a protein supplement thingie… Old man Godo used to make me take these chewable vitamins shaped like cartoon characters when I was little, before I moved out. They were awful, tasted like shit. But this is pretty good stuff. Quickly, I chug the rest of it down. Slowly, my head stops spinning, and that feeling in my neck that I always get while airsick goes away. Whoooo….

"Meesh, that stuff actually works. I wonder what's in it..?"

"I believe she said it was Gysahl Greens and Nefersuferoth feces.."

"Oh, okay… WAIT A SEC, WHAT?" I double over and feel like barfing.. again. I swear, if Vinnie just had me swallow monster crap, he's got another thing coming.. Looking up at him, his eyes hold no sign of a joke. I gag.. Grossness to the max… oooh, Vinnie, you're going to have a time in the lavatory trying to get out the kunai I'm about to shove up your ass….

"I'm not serious about that, Yuffie."

I stare.

"I didn't know you had a sense of humor, Vinnie."

I stare some more.

"So it's not really greens and dung?"

"It's not really greens and dung."

"Oh."

"……."

"I love you, too, Vinnie. In fact, I love you so much that I'm going to buy you lunch and a present. A knuckle sandwich and a kunai up your butt."

* * *

Again, I am SO sorry for not updating this in several months. I hope I can find the motivation to start updating monthly again… we shall see.

Thank you to GirlEnigma for spotting a mistake I'd made. I'd assigned Yuffie and Vincent to the Underwater Reactor, but then had them go to Fort Condor in the next chapter. Haha. I have the most pathetic memory.


	11. Blood Battered Battlefield

The Materia Hunter: Eleventh Chapter—Blood Battered Battlefield

* * *

Author's Note: Fort Condor was my favorite out of the Huge Materia missions. My deepest apologies to you if you've been waiting. However, I'm sure the recent influx of Yuffentine stories due to Dirge of Cerberus can more than satisfy any Yuffentine cravings. –smiles- I haven't bought the game myself… first person shooters aren't really my thing, but if any of you have played it and think I should try it, I may just take you up on it.

* * *

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VII.

* * *

Smoke rises above the rocky wall of Fort Condor, the great golden bird still resting upon its broad plateau. Vincent's hard-soled boots crunch on the graveled entrance, and he motions me to climb up the ladder first. But I shake my head violently and smirk at him, one hand on my jutted hip.

"Don't be a perv, Vinnie. I can't have you getting a sneak peek at my butt on the way up, now can I? You go first! Don't worry; your cape'll cover you." Slightly irritable from the long airship ride, I shift impatiently as he twitches slightly at my comment, and then wordlessly starts up the ladder.

_"They want what they call 'Huge Materia' to collide with Meteor in hopes of destroying it. Therefore, they are collecting it from promising reactors. Fort Condor is one of their targets." Cait Sith bobs up and down enthusiastically as the sounds of some Shinra board meeting emit from his microphone. "And… North Corel. They plan to transport the Materia out via train from the Corel Reactor, and then airlift it from the station down at the other end of the Corel region. North Corel, since it has recovered around the tracks, will be decimated if the train comes through."_

_$#$&!!! If they... If they take Corel, there'll be nothing left of the #$&$in' nothin' they got there now! I can't let that happen, $#&# it!!! Damn jackasses aren't gonna destroy my Corel again... I gotta stop them!" Barret's enraged outburst sets our faces into a grimace. _

_Cid grunts lightly, withdraws his cigarette from his parted lips, then exhales a stream of smoke. "Alright. You go on to the reactor then, Barret. We'll drop ya there. I'll go too, to stop that train. And the fire-cat and Cait Sith will go along to go to Corel and get all them people away from the tracks just in case we can't stop the #$&#ing bugger. Valentine and Kisaragi. You're gonna handle Fort Condor. Kisaragi, don't get in the way. Valentine, don't let her piss her pants on the way down, 'cuz we're not stopping to letcha off, you'll just jump. Move out!!"_

_Stupid old man, I'M not gonna pee my pants just for a little jump. Better worry about you, though, gettin' to that age where ya gotta worry about the runs, huh? Grahr… _

And so we jumped off when the ship got close enough to the ground, and here we are. Fort Condor.

"Yuffie, is there something wrong?"

I jump. "Oh!!! No!! Coming--!" I hastily scramble up the ladder.

The withered old man we had met when we first came to the fort greets us. "Hello, travelers," he says grievously, brow furrowed. "We are in a time of war. Shinra has come to take out Materia from the old reactor. But doing so will destroy the Condor and the egg that is soon to hatch. We have held them off for a short while. But our forces will not last long at all. We are depending on mercenaries, and are running out of ways to pay them. Soon they will leave, and our Condor will lay unprotected with her egg. I suggest that if you do not with to get involved with our war, please leave." With that, the old man lets out a soft sigh and buries his head in his arms. Poor guy…

"We came to bring you aid. May we help you?" Vinnie's red gaze fixes on the back of the man's head, and the man lifts himself suddenly, looking at us as if seeing us in a brand new light.

……..

ONTO THE BATTLEFIELD!!! I dash up the steps to the observation tower, overlooking a bloodied battlefield. I grimace slightly at the sweetish scent of blood— both freshly shed and dried and decaying. However, Vinnie makes no signal that he even notices the sight or the smell and approaches the worried man overlooking the battle.

"I can offer funds to provide forces enough to overcome the Shinra. However, you must allow us to take the Huge Materia once the Condor hatches." Right. Just cut to the chase, Vinnie. In the corner, I gag slightly at the odor.

"Oh, yes sir!!!!" The young man looks hugely gratified as he steps off his stool and grasps Vinnie's hand, shaking it vigorously. "We just want our Condor to hatch safely. That is the purpose of our resistance, you see?" Vinnie nods, then turns towards the door leading to that blood covered ground.

"Let's go, Yuffie."

I raise my head and nod slightly before skittering over to him, clinging closer than normal. I feel nauseous…. scared… I've never had such a huge battle before. It's like a battle back from the Wutai War, or at least how I'd imagined it. I imagined a great sea of blood and corpses, men screaming, chocobos down, and the flash of steel against steel. Then, a great silver-haired man would come sprinting through, leaving a path of clean death behind him, then a line of SOLDIERs, more blood, and the silver-haired war hero would be gone as soon as he'd come, but the battlefield would look all the more shattered for it.

Maybe this is the same. I just hope the silver-haired man doesn't appear and kill us all. I shiver slightly at the thought. Then, I find a hand on my shoulder.

"Don't be afraid." A whisper. And, strangely, somehow, I feel encouraged.

"I won't be afraid, Vinnie!" I grin up at him sunnily, and then dart forward, swiftly pulling my weapon out as I move forward from the new found power in my legs.

"Let's go!!!!"

As Vincent talks to the general of the hired army, I sit on a rock several yards down the stretch, staring at the sunset—unnervingly, the color of blood. Down near my feet, I hear sniffing. I look, and there's a dog of sorts. As I reach out to pet it…

"AAAAAAAA!!!"

The 'dog' leaps out at me, three inch fangs bared and aimed at my throat. I roll off the rock and slide down the hill on my backside, eyes squeezed shut, curled in a ball, waiting for some impact. Behind me, I hear the beast galloping down the hill, snarling. Oh, holy sporks, what the HELL is that THING??

I eventually skid to a sprawling stop, only after the beast had lost me down into a valley. Panting slightly, I inspect the wounds. Several gashes adorn my arms and legs, and I can already feel the bruising. Gawd, it hasn't even been fifteen minutes out here, and the terrain is beating me up before the enemy even does. The Shinra are manipulating monsters then, huh? Luckily, though I lost my shuriken somewhere on the hill, I managed to keep my gauntlet, which had a low-level Restore on it, and I tap out a bit of power to heal the cuts.

Something crunches behind me.

I look over my shoulder quickly, and I nearly choke on a scream.

Another monster!!! I don't even have a weapon, ohhhh, shit oh shit ohhhh shitshitshitttt, what kind of Materia do I have on… The monster growls loudly as it steps on a skull, crumbling it to bits with a great crunching sound. It isn't like the dog-beast, though; it's red and scaly on two legs with muscles and a big spiked club.

"Restore, Heal, and Sense. Oh, GAWD, how could I be so stupid??" No other choice now…. I begin to run up the hill out of the valley as fast as my legs would carry me, slipping on spilled blood, tripping over bodies and bones as the sun sets fast behind me. Hoping to encounter my shuriken somewhere on my way back up, I squint as hard as I can, trying to spot a glint of metal and Materia on the battlefield. With huge heavy tromping footsteps, the monster chases after me, undeterred by the steepness of the hill. And it's getting closer. Frantically, I push my legs to go faster. Oh gawd… This is a nightmare. A nightmare, it must be!!! In frustration and panic, I take a huge gasping breath, the air slicing through my chest like a knife on my taxed lungs. And then I scream. With every fiber and cell in my body, I scream as loud as I can, whirl around and launch myself off the hill, gravity finally on my side. My scream turns into some ferocious war-cry as I flick my gauntlet up onto my knuckle and plunge my accelerated fist into the clearly startled monster. And then…

We start tumbling back down the hill. In a great ball of limbs, we roll down the hill, adrenaline pumping through my veins, manipulating my muscles expertly to kick, punch, and otherwise damage the stunned creature. Regaining my mind, I flip the monster under me, then leap off kamikaze style onto the side of our path to grab a rock as the red beast goes tumbling out of sight. And when I have myself steadied on the rock, and when my head stops spinning, I start to laugh.

"Ahahahaha, my life really sucks, ohh, it sure does.. Someone up there must really hate my guts today. Ohohoho, yes, the only way this could get ANY flippin' worse is if—"

A snarl.

And then—a miracle!

A gunshot.

The beast falls dead.

"Yuffie!"

Sitting atop the rock like a frog, I look up at Vincent as he sprints down the hill towards me, reloading his gun with an ominous click. His eyes dart to the side for a moment and that earsplitting shot goes off again, a smaller monster-dog dropping, then falling down the hill with a painful whine. Vincent skids to a stop beside me, his face more vulnerable and wrought with some sort of anxiousness than I have ever seen. Then, he envelopes me in an awkward, uncomfortable, one-armed embrace, my eyes round and wide as dinner plates, and my hands instinctively pressed up against his shoulders to get free. What is this… I must be dreaming.

"Argh..! Vinnie, down boy! Down!!"

He lets go and steps back a ways, looking thoroughly startled/disgusted with himself. I laugh at him.

"Kekekeke, Vinnie thinks I'm sexyy—"

"Quit that. We have work to do," he says clearly, unusually cold, as he turns around and starts back up the hill.

I blink slowly, trotting along mechanically. Now that I think about it, he's been oddly out of character lately. I was almost going to say he was downright friendly…

"Vinnie, what's eating you?"

He gives me a sharp glare. "Don't call me that," he snaps. "Leave me alone. We're here for a reason, and you need to take it seriously."

What the hell…

"Gawd, Vinnie. Something's not eating you after all. Something crawled up into your ass and died. Thanks for comin' to my rescue, but I can take care of myself from now on." And, in a huff, I start sprinting up the hill, leaving him behind me, an ache becoming evident in my tired legs. Teach him not to treat a girl like that… meesh, no wonder that Lucrecia lady dumped him. Hojo might just have a better personality for all I know. Speaking of Hojo, I wonder if one of Vincent's inner demon thingies is a girl. That'd explain a whooooleee lot. Especially if that demon was pregnant. With quintuplets. That must be it. As my mind strays to the various reasons of Vinnie's very moody, pregnant lady-like behavior, the sun disappears just beyond the horizon, leaving a distant orange glow behind. I wonder if they're expecting us to fight after nightfall…

Three hours later…

"Ooof, dammit, this thing is HEAVY!!" I whine as I drag a Fire Catapult up into a nook behind a small pile of rubble. The strategy was to position the Fire Catapults where there was scrap metal and leftover remains of armor lying around, so that when the ammo exploded it'd supposedly blow up the metal and create shrapnel. Sounds more like "suicide" to me, but what the crap ever, it's not gonna be my eyes getting gouged out, and the Fire Catapults don't last long enough or have enough power behind them to really explode a hunk of sheet metal. Melt it slightly? Yes. Send bits of it flying at opposition? No. But the surrounding junk still made a fairly good hiding place, so I set the catapult and trot back over to the arsenal where I'm promptly directed over to a Tristoner, at least thrice the size (and weight) of the previous Fire Catapult. I sigh.

"Where do you want it?" I grumble to the foreman, currently unwrapping extra ammunition. With a grunt, he points down the hill.

"Go down yonder a bit, and when you get to the first fork in the path about halfway down, set the thing up on the mouth of one side of the fork, then come back up and I'll have another ready for you to take down to the other side."

I walk over to the weapon gingerly and test its weight. Can't move it. I shoot a glare at the foreman, who, I gleefully note, is wearing a Carbon Bangle with a third level Lightning linked with a second level All Materia in its slots.

"Can I at least get a hand? I can't shove this thing two inches, much less control it halfway down the freaking mountain!!"

He scowls at me, then appears to spot someone coming up the hill and waves to them. "Yo, come help get this Tristoner down to the fork!! Girl can't do it by herself!" he shouts, a mocking tone in his voice that makes me flare up inside.

I glare at him harder for making it sound like I'm a wimp. Bet he couldn't even do it alone. Note to self: steal foreman's Materia after getting Tristoners down hill. Absentmindedly, I pick up one side of the weapon, the help getting the other side. Hehehehe. Spike can't miss what he's never had, right? So that Materia's gonna be MINE!

Taking teeny steps to avoid slipping and taking a tumble (I've had enough of that, bleargh), we work our way down to the fork. Darkness has completely fallen, and I can barely see my way, but dim lights set up here and there and the occasional blast from the many scattered Fire Catapults allow us to find the path despite the night. A Catapult hurls a large stone onto the path, dangerously close, jarring me from my thoughts. Okay. Sure. It's nice to make it hard for the Shinra thingies coming up. But is it nice to make it hard for the good guys goin' down? The foreman's face pops into my mind, cackling. Never mind. Rhetorical question. And I'm tired. And hungry. I want hot dogs and chili and s'mores. Then, a sleeping bag and a warm, quiet night. Not this yucky battlefield with dudes running you over, yelling like the world is ending and people barking orders as Vinnie feeds them cash over their shoulder. Speaking of Vinnie…. I wonder where he went. I'm not that mad anymore, but didn't have to bite my head off… I wonder if he's still on his mood swing. Maybe he's running around in circles laughing his head off somewhere, or curled up in an especially shadowy spot contemplating death… or having massive grape jelly mixed with horseradish cravings… or wondering why he keeps throwing up every morning followed "what is the meaning of life?"….. Okay, so I'm still bitter about how he's been acting and am seriously hoping to Leviathan that he's not pregnant with the love children of millenia-old demons living inside of him. But, seriously, where did he go?

"Hmm.. How much farther is it!!" I shout over to the guy carrying the other end of the Tristoner.

"About fifty yards.." A familiar voice.

My eyebrows raise. "Vinnie?"

"Yes?"

"ARGH!"

"There's no need to shout…"

"VINNIE, YOU JERKHEAD!! WHY ARE YOU SUCH AN ASS???"

A silence, and I feel the Tristoner shift a bit. "That's a terribly open ended question." He says shortly. I feel smoke drifting dangerously out of my ears.

"You didn't witness the earlier commotion?" he asks quickly, not giving me a chance to pierce through one of the Tristoner's sidebars with my fingernails and then proceed to grab him by the hair and eat his head.

"No…" I seethe, teeth clenched, "did you have those quintuplets then?"

He just ignores my question.

"I… transformed shortly after you'd left running to the top. I am glad you ran when you did, for it had been tearing at the bindings for several hours and would not be held back. I was beginning to lose myself, trying to suppress the demon, and whichever emotion rose to the top first is the one that surfaced at that time."

"Bubble-head."

"……"

"Don't "……" me, Vinnie. You DID just say something about "rising to the top" and "surfacing", so I'm going to add "popped in the head…", and therefore, you are a can of soda."

Wordless, he lets down his end of the Tristoner, and we drag it into the right side of the fork. As he busies himself pulling back the catch lever, I survey him quietly. Wonder what happened, really. It seems weird for him to just randomly transform, unprovoked. It'd explain the moodiness, I guess. But it's still weird. And I'm still mad at him! Hmph! Vinnie steps back from the Tristoner, staring at it. Then, suddenly, it heaves forward and spits out three sizeable boulders.

"Someone will have to be stationed here to reload this," notes Vinnie, leaning up against the cliff wall separating the path. I glare at him. How can he act so nonchalant? He hasn't even apologized to me yet. If doesn't apologize in the next five minutes, I'm gonna scream! And blackmail him. Somehow. There's that neat new computer program… I think it's called "Photostore", or something…? I dunno, but you can screw around with pictures in it.. Maybe I'll lop off Vinnie's head and attach it to a Cactuar body. Then, make a sign with it that reads, "Vinnie, the Magical Singing Cactuar!" in big, green, thorny letters. And put his PHS number under it. Then, start posting it on every building from Wutai to Mideel… hehehehehe….

"Yuffie?"

"Eeeh?" I glance up at Vinnie, maybe just a little too evilly.

"There is more work to do."

"Vinnie….. you would make an awesome Cactuar.. If the program lets me, I may even give you a giant, decorated sombrero."

"……?"

"Mwahahaha… nothing, oh dearest Vinnie, nothing at all…"

"I apologize for the earlier bitter treatment."

I freeze. The little Vinnie-Cactuar chibis wearing sombreros and dancing in my head all squeak simultaneously and leap out my ears with a soft "poof" sound, despite my desperate attempts to save them. I sigh.

"'S okay, Vinnie, I understand. Why'd you transform?"

He starts walking up the path, and I trot to catch up to his long strides. "Don't know," he finally replies, evidently determined to scrub the grime off his boot tops by staring at them. "Weakness."

The walk back up is silent. But after bringing down the second Tristoner, the foreman waves us away, telling us to camp out somewhere. "A new battalion arrived a few minutes ago," he'd told us energetically. I noticed his gauntlet had gone. Damn. And then, he'd pointed over to a safe spot near a ridge overhang and told us to camp out for the night. Finally. Sleep. Food. And it's way past overdue, too, considering that we're paying for all these troops.. Man, my legs are killing me….

As Vinnie starts a fire, I haphazardly throw together a Tent, crudely pounding stakes into the ground with the accuracy of a blind, deaf chipmunk. Lucky I didn't crack my thumb open. But tiredness seduces me to my knees, lower and lower by the minute, and as my eyelids droop, Vincent swims into my fogging vision, and I'm thinking something like, "if thass 'tiredness', and he's seducin' me, I say 'tiredness' is winning cuz 'tiredness' is pretty hot damn sexy…"

However, the tranquil calm of sleep barely lasts. As I sit up from my lovely, lumpy spot, jumbled up in a pile of blankets and crap, I try to figure out how I woke up. Then, I notice it.

FOOD! Yum!!!

I wince as I shift to leap up as something hard digs into my right buttock. Leaning over to the left and feeling around underneath me, my fingers latch onto a buckle. I look down. And yes, you probably know what I'm sitting on! Don't you? DON'T YOUU??

It's Vincent'sssssss-------

PANTS!!!!

…………….

Ah, sorry, just messin' around, it's Vincent's cape, no worries. Hehehe. I crawl over to the fire where Vinnie appears to be poking something with a stick in the fire. I peer over his shoulder. And, much to my surprise, I see two potato chili dogs wrapped in foil sitting right on the edge of the flames, Vinnie prodding each of them and rolling them over with his Golden Cooking Rod Of Prosperity (the stick). Mmm… I sure do love chili dogs…. Yum yum…. wait.

Where the HELL did he get—

1-- Potatoes.

2-- Hot dogs.

3-- Chili.

4-- Foil.

"Uhhhh, Vinnie?" I tap his shoulder gingerly, just in case he hadn't noticed my chin hovering two inches above it in witness to Vinnie's Hot Dog Materialization Voo Doo Magic. "Where'd you get those?"

He doesn't move. But since he doesn't have his nasty heavy red cloak on, at least I can see his lips move when he speaks….

"They are from the elder as thanks for our help."

Not even WANTING to contemplate how that old man got his hands on two chili potato dogs out here in the middle of freaking nowhere, I decide to settle for the fact that we at least have something yummy to eat. Gawd, they smell like HEAVEN, baby! Reminds me of that Gold Saucer trip where Vinnie choked on his. Or not.

Absentmindly, I let my eyes wander shamelessly over Vincent's un-cloaked person. He's so purty.. wait, slow down, since when is "purty" a Vinnie adjective? Hot? Maybe. Sexy? Maybe. Purty? Ew. Gross. Ness. He's kinda cool looking, I guess… His face doesn't show much of anything, whether or not it has a neck brace-like collar drawn around it.. Ya know, we've really been through a lot together… And even if he's a creepy vamp with red eyes and a freaky claw, he's actually sorta grown on me, I admit. I'd even say we're friends. I wonder if he considers me a friend, too?

"Hey, Vinnie?" I murmur, shifting closer just a hair.

"?"

"Are we friends?"

I know, "sap sap", "goo goo", "fluff fluff", "barf barf", right? A girl's gotta speak her mind sometime, though! And the only way I'm going to be okay with thinking he's a sexy man-beast is if we're friends. Ha.

"I… don't know."

I twitch slightly, shifting uncomfortably. "You're my friend, you know…." I say warily, peeking up at him through my eyelashes. "If you ever need anything, I'll be here for ya, okay?"

For a moment, he looks oddly terrified. (Maybe the idea of being friends with me is scary, who knows… I'd be scared, too… mweeheheeee..) Then, he looks me straight in the eye, and a jolt runs down my spine, sending a slight shiver through me. He doesn't blink. Neither do I. Staring contest, eh?? Bring it ON!

"You need to reconsider your choice in friends, Yuffie."

My mouth drops open, and I stare at him for a moment, dumbfounded. Then, I slowly raise my hands to his shoulders and let them rest there as my jaw silently closes, and I can feel my eyes turning sad. He doesn't look away. I don't look away. My hands remain on his shoulders, our bodies so close, the fire suddenly so warm…. and I close the gap between us…

"VINNIE, YOU ASSHOLE!!!" I scream, rapidly flinging him back and forth, hands clutching his shoulders like talons. "You don't get it! You're my friend! No matter what! I don't care if you want to marinate in misery or turn into demons or wear retarded looking capes, hell, I wouldn't care if you took me up on that Cactuar and sombrero look, because you're Vinnie, and Vinnie's my friend!!!"

"…sorry….." Vinnie says lamely, caught off-guard quite obviously and at an evident loss for words. (not that he really has many anyhow…) The PHS starts ringing loudly behind me, making me jump in surprise, bursting the bubble of discomfort wrought on Vinnie's tense form. Quickly, his composure returns, the tension releasing like water from a gaping hole in the fish tank. The PHS continues to ring.

"Are you going to get that, Vinnie?" I grumble, miffed at the interruption. I don't care. Whatever the crap he says, Vinnie is my nice, normal, human friend, and he's going to sit with me at breakfast after all of this and laugh about how STUPID he was...

Even though the PHS is nearer to me, Vinnie gets up anyway and retrieves it from the ground behind me, answering it with the press of a button. Dull-sounding as ever, he speaks into the receiver.

"Valentine speaking."

Honestly, who calls this late? I dig an ancient, orange polka-dotted watch out of my pocket, its face decorated with a long out of date cartoon character. I don't know how it still works, but it does…. This thing is probably older than VINNIE.

11:30 PM.

People used to call my dad a lot, asking various favors, wanting audiences with him, or for him to train them, etc.. etc…. After a particularly phone-happy day/night, he ripped the cables out and threw the entire apparatus, little table included, into the backyard in a fit of anger. Without opening the door. It took forever to get that wall replaced… We never had a phone again…

"Understood."

With a soft "beep", Vincent ended the call.

"Who was that?" I ask.

"Cid. They have successfully secured the Huge Materia at Corel."

"Guess that sorta leaves things up to us, huh? The heat is on, Vinnie, the heat is on!"

"It will be concluded shortly… hopefully by daybreak the Shinra line will have faltered."

"Nifty. Now, where were we?"

"…………"

"Oh yeah."

I lean in closer, my hands creeping back up to Vinnie's shoulders. I feel his internal struggle… fight, flee, or endure? No matter, I win at all three..nyeh heh heh…

The heat is on, Vinnie…

"VINNIE, YOU ASSHOLE!! "…sorry…" DOESN'T CUT IT!!!!" Shake, shake, rattle, rattle.

His face suddenly gets hard and serious again, and he raises his own hands to grip my shoulders. I freeze.

"Then _what_ do you want me to _say_, Yuffie?" he hisses, voice barely below a snarl. Whoa, he's snapping… like a twig…

I say nothing, just staring at his face, his eyebrows contracted, eyes narrowed, glittering blood red beneath heavy lashes. Strange. A long time ago, I would have peed my pants if I'd been in this situation. But I'm not scared of Vinnie. I don't think he's really that angry… probably because HE was the one who floundered when I just asked him if he considered me a friend…

I scowl.

"I want you to tell me what you really think, Vincent Valentine. You don't talk to others very often. But that means you probably NEVER shut up inside. Talking to someone else is much better than only talking to yourself. So talk to me, dammit, and start off by telling me what you think of me!"

Not to sound self-centered, of course.

Surprisingly, he doesn't let the silence hang like he normally does.

"Why." Not a question. Just a word. A command if you will. Why, why what, Vinnie Valentine? Why am I talking to you like a silly person? Why am I still here? Why do I want you to talk to me, why are you my friend? Why do I think you're a sexy mess of vampish hotness? Why.. pray tell, do I find myself actually, really falling in love with you, despite your constant display of doom and depression?

Gawd, if I knew the answer to half those questions, I'd tell you.

"Vinnie, I—"

He doesn't blink, doesn't let his eyes stray, steady red swirling like poison…

"you…. You…."

"Asshole?" he suggests.

"No!" I screech, breaking out of "fluffy, lost in your eyes, sing me a song.." mode. "No, not "asshole". I want you to talk to me, Vinnie. For.. for yourself, and because I worry about you." I blush. "Because we're friends," I add quickly.

"I talk to you a lot, Yuffie."

I just stare at him. "Not enough, you don't, Vinnie. You told me your story, but otherwise, we might as well be strangers."

"You don't talk to me, either."

Uhhh…. Has he IGNORED me since we MET? I've talked almost NONSTOP since then.

"What the hell are you TALKING about, Vinnie? I NEVER shut up! And I'm not ashamed to say it, either!"

"You're trying to get me to tell you the things I keep innermost… however, you have never done it yourself."

"Are you telling me that you think I'm hiding things from you, Vinnie? I swear, I didn't steal the foreman's Materia. It was gone befor- oh, no, wait a sec, I wasn't planning to steal it. In fact, did he have Materia? Really? Hey, wait, what foreman? I don't know any foreman…" I laugh nervously.

"You hide a lot of things."

I pout. "Fine. Be that way. So let's play a game."

"A.. game?"

"Yeah! Truth or Dare."

* * *

Again, I'm so sorry if you had been waiting. I swear that this story will come to a conclusion. Even if it takes me a century to do it. I'm also sorry that the writing isn't so good. I'm still in essay mode since I've been writing essays for AP Lang lately, and feel this innate need to justify every little thing I say, so it's probably terribly rambling. But I also wanted to try and speed up the Yuffentine aspect of the story. I hope it's not a terrible transition. In some stories, Yuffie falls in love with Vincent in the same paragraph in which she meets him, Vincent falls for her a paragraph later, and they're making out crazily by the end of the chapter. I really, really, really am dreading having to figure out how to make Yuffie and Vincent interact so that they do end up as a couple-like thing, but realistically so. I'm scared I've quite already crossed the line between "realistic" and "completely unbelievable" already, though, so it might not matter.. They need to be the closest of friends, first. Then, they can inch closer… and my computer and I will both have seizures when they TOUCH, and voila! Yuffentine! Maybe this is why I'm so terrible with boys…. Ahahahahaha.. 


	12. Condor Campout

The Materia Hunter: Twelfth Chapter- Condor Campout

* * *

Author's Note: Summer!!! So busy! Yet, I will try to update as much as I can. I've been having trouble lately finding inspiration. I think I may buy/play Dirge of Cerberus for the story value, even though I haven't heard many nice things about the gameplay. Say, if any of you are going to the Otakon convention this July in Baltimore, let me know so I can say hello to you! I am thinking of cosplaying Yuffie, so if I do, then I will take some pictures to show! There are always a lot of Vincent cosplayers, haha.

There seems to be a very rapid influx of Yuffentine stories lately. I'm guessing this has something to do with Dirge of Cerberus. It makes me really want to play it, haha. I might dare to say Yuffentine has become Final Fantasy VII's first or second most popular pairing now? It seems strange to me, since I remember it back when it was fairly obscure.

* * *

Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy VII.

* * *

I feel like a camel. Why? It feels like my eyelids must be transparent. I grasp at my precious dreamland, but in vain. Sunlight is streaming in through the opened tent flaps, bright and nauseating. My stomach growls threateningly to get my attention, like I had swallowed some rabid beast whole.

_"Truth or Dare, Vinnie! You either have to truthfully answer a question I ask you, or you have to do whatever I tell you to."_

_"How masochistic.."_

_"You really shouldn't be criticizing my game, Mister Master of Masochism. Don't forget, YOU were the one we found snoozing in a COFFIN, for cryin' out loud, wanting to be "left in solitude" so you could brood and be all nasty and emo over a dead girl."_

_"… dinner's ready."_

_"Hey!! Don't try to change the subject on me! You said y—ohhhh, GAWD that looks yummy…"_

_Vincent fishes a steaming potato dog from the fire and unwraps it gingerly to reveal a huge tender potato with a big fat hot dog stuck in the middle of it. Thick chunky chili has been generously dribbled over the thing, making my mouth water nearly to the point of drooling. And to top it off, stringy melted cheese pulls reluctantly away from the foil as it comes down the sides of the overflowing potato. Despite the obvious heat of the delicious looking potato dog before him, he picks it up as if it was a rock and lays it on a tin plate and hands it to me. "Eat," he says, prodding the one still in the fire gently. No need to tell me twice… I dig into the scrumptious food without another thought, completely forgetting Truth or Dare. And after dinner, Vinnie thoughtfully pulling a glob of cheese out of my hair, I curl up into a Yuffie-bundle of blankets, Vinnie's cloak, and me, and I doze off, not to wake until—_

"SOMEONE, CLOSE THE DAMN TENT FLAPS!! CAN'T YOU SEE I'M TRYING TO GET SOME SHUTEYE HERE?!"

I didn't really expect my command to be followed, but the tent flaps immediately flop shut, swinging back and forth for a moment before settling closed. I look over at Vinnie, sleeping like the dead. Oddly, he didn't even notice the tent flaps, much less someone behind them... or my yelling, even.

Who was out there?

"HEY!" I shout, scrambling over my blankets, a sudden shiver shooting down my spine as my bare legs meet the brisk air. I burst out of the tent to two very alarmed mercenaries, who immediately start sprinting down the hill. I dash after them. After a minute of windmilling out of control downhill, I take a great diving leap, and like I'd done with the monster yesterday, I grab both of them and start rolling down the hill with them, a great sushi roll of thinly sliced mercenary wrapped in Yuffie-weed and dipped in a generous deluge of mud sauce. We come to a sprawling halt in the valley I'd been fortunate enough to visit the day before, and I pin them both to the ground before they run away. Terrified, they peer up at me with the obvious look of "ARE YOU #&!#ING NUTS?!" mixed with pure disturbance. I snarl and hold them both more tightly to the ground. They gulp.

Do NOT mess with Yuffie-chan in the morning.

"What," I hiss, my fingers digging into their collarbones, "were you doing in my tent?!"

They exchange equally terror-stricken glances and look back up at me wordlessly. I snarl again.

"W-We were just…" The mercenary under my left hand sputters, then falters as the right one tries to get his bearings. Both of them look no older than fourteen of fifteen, still with the slight babyish round faces and obvious fear of being caught doing something bad…

"Generalsaidtheclientwasavampiresowewantedtoproveit."

My eyes shoot to the right mercenary, who had lost some of the terror in his eyes. He gulps again. "What?" I hiss. Dude, did he just say the captain of the mercenary army said Vinnie was a vampire? Hehe, so maybe it's not just me. The guy takes a deep breath before trying to speak again.

"General Jujube said that the client was a vampire, so we were trying to see if it was true. But he didn't dissolve in sunlight or nothin'…"

I burst out laughing and release both boys. They sit up bewildered as I sit, shaking with mirth before them. Okay. The vampire thing isn't THAT weird. But what poor soul manages to have the misfortune of getting the name of "Jujube"? Hahahahaha…

"Well," I begin, an evil plan forming in my mind, "Vincent, that's his name, rather dark-sounding, isn't it, well, he doesn't dissolve in sunlight because he's SO OLD that he grew immune to it! He's like Dracula, really. In fact, Dracula and him used to be buddies back in grade school. So, basically, you could sit him out in the desert at noon, send stakes of wood drenched in holy water raining down on him, and repeatedly shove a great honkin' crucifix up his ass, and he wouldn't die! He'd be pissed as hell, and he'd totally eat you up, but he's just that powerful! IN FACT, since your General Jujube was so lucky to actually get a super strong VAMPIRE as his client, tell him that we are requesting a crate of military grade Master lever Materia as compensation for our honored appearance, okay? Or else, uh, Vincent'll come up to him and eat his neck. Yes."

The two boys stare at me then at each other in wonder, and without another word, they go sprinting down to their camp, leaving me laughing maniacally in their wake. Ahahaha, so far, this has been a pretty productive morning.

"So I suppose I should take extra care while traveling through deserts?" Vincent's eerily calm voice floats over to me from somewhere over my left shoulder, and I twitch slightly. Damn.. Caught in the act…

"U-Uh…" I splutter, whirling around suddenly, a huge fake smile plastered on my face. "How long have you been standing there?"

A barely perceptible expression, which I can only describe as barely perceptible exasperation overtakes his features as he shakes his head slowly. "I don't want to know."

I flash Vinnie a genuine grin this time, as well as a big cheesy thumbs up, and dart back up to where he's standing. His cloak, even though I had trampled it, rolled around on it, and probably drooled on it while I was sleeping, is oddly clean and neat. Hm. Must be a Vinnie thing. Now THAT is something I think I will never be able to figure out. As I stand here, I look like, as my dad used to say, "a filthy ragamuffin". The sun's barely up, and I'm already coated in dust and dirt, and my hair is all crusted together with globs of mud from tumbling down the hill. But, say Vinnie wanted to go somersaulting down the hill. At the bottom, if he wasn't dead from cracking his skull open on a rock, he would probably get up, a lock of wildly sexylicious black hair positioned over one eye like a good little emo child, and his clothes would be spotless, any cuts he'd have gotten would be attractively placed and bleeding delicately, and he wouldn't have the expression of a heavily drugged Moogle. No, he'd stand there, perfectly composed and edible-looking, and he'd say in his deep, dark voice of hotness—

"Yuffie, are you hurt?" You know, I feel like he really did just say that to me just now. My imagination is so vivid.

And I'd say—

"Not anymore, now that I've looked into your wondrous crimson eyes of beauty and prosperity, and seen our deeply romantic future locked within their infinite depths!"

"Excuse me?"

"Yes, Vinnie, I—"

Ahahahaha… I just said all that aloud, didn't I? Heh. Shit.

"—gotta pee. Later!" And, to avoid shoving my feet FURTHER into my mouth, I keep them busy by having them run me as fast as they can go back up the hill into some little alcove where I can desperately hope that Vinnie really didn't hear what I was spewing back down there. But not such an inconspicuous alcove. I want the mercenaries to be able to find me so they can give me my crate of Materia. Tee hee.

I trudge up the last few feet of the incline and enter the watch tower. There's no one there, so I go down into the main part of the fort where the old man from before is sitting at a table, inspecting something in front of him. Oddly, even though I know I should feel at least a little humiliated still, I don't. Maybe it's because I know Vinnie won't care. He's one of your "strictly business" types. Anything that's otherwise kinda just flies past his ears.

"Hey, old man, is there a place around here I could get a shower or something?"

The old man looks up from whatever he was doing and peers around at me, looking like I was some holy angel from the sky. Holy ninja angel covered in dirt. That's me!

"I am so grateful for what you and your friend have done for us and the Condor," he says to me. "Thanks to you, the Shinra won't be back, and the Condor egg can hatch in peace. There is a place where you can clean up just off the living area. It isn't luxurious, but feel free to use it." And with that, he nods at me, his eyes still shining with gratitude, and goes back to whatever he was doing. A glimmer on the table catches my eye.

"What exactly is that you have there?" I question, trying to peer over his shoulder. I KNOW that glimmer… That's MATERIA, no doubt about it!

"Eh?" He looks up again. "I found this in the reactor before the battle started. It's pretty, isn't it?" He holds it up for me to see, and my I immediately feel my eyes bulging out of my head. That is one freaking HUGE hunk of Materia!!! I swear, it's probably the size of my head!! Or at least the size of one of Tifa's boobs. Ah, they're the same size. Never mind, then. "You know.." he continues, grinning at me toothily, or it would be toothy 'cept for the fact that he doesn't have many teeth left… "I think you should have this as thanks for the battle, whaddya say?"

Promptly, I nod vigorously. "Oh, I think this is enough to thank us, sir…" I suppress a giggle as I bounce away. However, as I reach the stairs leading down to the shower, I feel my heart sinking with every step. Obviously, this is the Huge Materia we were looking for. Which means I can't keep it. But… I look at the glittering mass of magical goodness nestled ever so comfortably in my arms. What Vinnie doesn't know can't hurt him… and as long as the Shinra don't have it… Plus, I totally got to the old man first, and he handed it to ME, meaning that it's technically mine right now. Right? Right? Yes? Yes? Yes. Hehe. Mine! And with that settled, I close the shower curtain.

The shower is nothing more that a metal spigot and an old showerhead that looks more like the spout to a watering can than something to bathe under. In the corner of the stall, there rests a corrugated metal tub, and the floor is concrete with a drain set in the middle of it. Deciding to take care of my clothes first, I drag the tub over to the spigot and turn on the hot water to fill it. Surprisingly, the water heats up quickly, splashing loudly against the dull grey metal. I quickly strip off all my clothes, chuck my armor to the side, and dump my shorts, shirt, and socks into the tub. After grabbing the bar of soap sitting on the ledge in the wall, I furiously scrub it into the mud stains on my shorts, picking away the bigger clumps of dirt with my fingernails. Soon, the water is the color of chocolate milk. Lovely. Hope no one was planning to take a bath in that tub today. I drag my clothes out of the scalding water and squeeze them out. Not bad. The stains are almost gone. I should probably hunt for some new socks next time we hit a town, though.

I dump the water out unceremoniously, almost flooding the stall before the drain catches up, and the water recedes. I turn on the shower and do my best to pick the chunks of crud out of my hair. The mud on me softens in the hot water and slides off like a hundred slopping slugs trickling away down the drain. Soon, I begin to see my original skin color again. Even though I've already used up the half the entire soap bar, I lather up with it again, still battling with my hair. Altogether, it feels more like an owl pellet than hair right now. Again and again I try my best to penetrate it with my fingers, and when I do, I work them through hearing the plops and thunks of mud-beasts hitting the floor.

Fifteen minutes later, I turn off the water, grab one of the stacked towels, and dry myself off. I rub my clothes vigorously in the towel to get as much water as possible out of them as I can. The shorts, being stubbornly thick cotton khaki, refuse to dry very well, but at least I got the water out of my underwear. I tug all my clothes on, shivering slightly at the chill of wearing wet clothes, towel-dry my hair, and buckle on the familiar armor. Now for the Huge Materia…

I can't equip it. I can't expect Vinnie to not notice it, really. I could stuff it under my shirt and pretend I was pregnant. But something tells me that Vinnie wouldn't believe that story, even if I tried to throw him onto the S.S. Guilt Trip by telling him he turned into a monster and raped me in his sleep last night. Right. Scary thought there. And I gotta hold onto it somehow until I get back to Wutai sometime. So I think I'll…

Steal it later.

Yes, kiddies, being a sexy ninja thief requires much sacrifice… But I have to give up the Materia. For now. As long as I keep track of its whereabouts, which isn't hard, I can always take it back later… Besides, Vinnie will be impressed and proud of me when I give it to him. Maybe so much that he'll forget any weird things he didn't hear me say earlier about "crimson eyes" and "romantic futures" and "infinite depths". Because I totally didn't say anything like that. I didn't even think it. Never. As a matter of fact, I think Vinnie's eyes are scary. So, ha. I didn't even GO there earlier. Ha.. ha… ha…

Putting that aside.

It's a good thing that it's warm outside today, relatively speaking, that is. Lately, it's been a little cold. But for the last day or so, I haven't needed to wear that coat Vinnie got me back at Icicle Inn. As I go back outside onto the Condor's hill, the Huge Materia wrapped in my damp towel, a tingle goes through my body as the sun's rays hit my back, spreading me over with warmth. Ahh… I wonder where Vinnie is?

"Yuffie."

Speak of the devil…

"Hey, Vinnie!" I shout over to the approaching figure. He, of course, looks spotless as ever. Not fair. He walks up to me, eyes moving to the bundle in my arms momentarily before settling back on my face.

"Two boys just ran past while I was speaking to the general of the mercenary army," he said calmly, no change in expression. "They were screaming, panicked about not being able to find a crate of Mastered Materia for the "ninja girl with the invincible vampire". I don't suppose you would know something about that?"

I twitched internally. "You said you didn't want to know," I said in a conclusive voice. Smiling slyly, I held up the Huge Materia wrapped in the towel. "I got us the Huge Materia, though!" I uncovered the Materia to reveal its ultimate shimmering glory. Aah, it's so beautiful.. I have a little mental crying session as I think of how we're going to be separated for so long after this.. Au revoir, my fabulous treasure… One day, I will take you home with me and we can be together forever. I will be able to gaze upon your luminous glow, more precious and breathtaking than the light of a blue moon, as often and as long as I want. But until then… we must wait. Oh, the sorrow!

"Excellent, Yuffie."

I'm not really paying attention, as I am blowing the nose of my emotional train wrecking inner Yuffie-chibi right now, but I nod imperceptibly anyway. It's an art, it really is. Then again, if he'd said "Excellent, Yuffie, now let's mount our golden Chocobos and ride off into the sunset together and get married at a big fancy wedding where we make out sexily at the altar then feed each other a giant chocolate lava cake," I still probably would have "nodded imperceptibly". Nevertheless, it's an art.

"Say, isn't something missing?" I wonder aloud, looking around me suddenly. For some reason, it seems really empty out here. And then, with the simple point of a finger from Vinnie, I realize why.

The Condor and the egg are both gone.

"OMIGAWD!!!! VINNIE, WHERE DID THEY GO???!!?"

"The egg hatched and the Condor died. The infant Condor flew away," he explained simply.

"Died? Why did the Condor die?" I asked, more curious than horror-stricken, really.

"When a new Condor is born, the egg's hatching destroys the mother. The infant promptly flies away and forms a new nest."

I stare at the empty nest. How weird is that.

"I found this while inspecting the Reactor. Take it," Vinnie instructed, making me tear my eyes away from the nest to his held out hand. In it is a single red orb, a Summon Materia. EEEEEE!!

"Are you serious, Vinnie?" I ask, examining the summon in my fingers. It's a first level Summon, and I could be wrong, but I think it summons a Phoenix.

"Take it," he says again. I stare at him momentarily before inserting it into a slot on my armor.

"Thanks, Vinnie."

"You are welcome. Cid contacted me while you were inside. He and the others successfully halted the advance of the train on North Corel and retrieved the Huge Materia at that location. The Highwind will be arriving outside the fort in about two hours, and then we are set to go to Mideel to check on Cloud and Tifa."

"Okay," I say with a nod, and together, we go inside the fort, greet the old man goodbye, and climb down the rope ladder to the fort's exit. Outside, the sky has turned suddenly grey, and the air cool. Shivering slightly, I perch myself on a ledge of rock jutting out of the mountain face about seven feet or so up and watch the top of Vinnie's head from above. Even though his hair is rather untamed and wild-looking, it holds an unusual natural elegance of its own. Altogether, it would look weird if it was short. I wonder what he looked like when he was a Turk? Probably handsome. Long hair? Maybe, but not as feral-looking. And maybe tied back like Reno's. Ugh, Vincent compared to Reno? No. Okay, no long hair, then. I wonder if his eyes were really red back then? Probably not. That's a signal of "scientific mugwup" if I've ever known it… Well then, they could be any color, really, blue or brown or green. Hey, they could have been orange, even! Hmm. Nah. That's unnatural, too.

You know, if I actually wanted the answers to all these questions, I would just ask him. But that would be too easy. Plus, Vinnie might get sad. Why? Because Turk days meant happier-than-mess-of-Vinnie-flan-we-have-today. It probably means no monsters, no weird vampire getup, actually smiling, maybe, being young and drinking until barfing out one's innards all over the floor, and eating twenty inch long sub sandwiches in one sitting on a dare. It also probably means Lucrecia, which brings along love, dating, and all that squishy stuff I don't really know anything about. Looking back on all this, Vinnie seems really old to me. He even proposed marriage to Lucrecia now that I think about it. Having a crush on him is suddenly starting to feel like when I had a little girl-crush on Staniv back in Wutai when I was ten. Lessee… If I was ten… and if Staniv is thirty now, and since I just turned seventeen, then he probably was twenty-three when that happened. Well, it's not as gross as some of the yucky old men Godo was considering marrying me off to for a time, but thirteen years is a bit of gap, 'specially for a ten year old. Ahahahahaha… But then again, Vinnie must be ancient. I remember, back when we went to Rocket Town, and I found that letter from Lucrecia in Vinnie's cloak, Aeris told me he was inside the coffin in Nibelheim for forty years. Estimating an approximate age of twenty-five at prime Turkdom, he is probably around sixty-five. That's pretty creepy. Much WORSE than any guy Godo has tried to set me up with, that's for sure. Why am I even thinking about this, though? If Vinnie's that old, he would NOT go for a girl like me. Even without the forty zombie years, he'd still be too old for me. And why do I even like a guy his age, anyhow? Well, he's hot… And he's always been nice to me, even though I'm always giving him problems that probably make him mega constipated. Plus, he's always looking out for me like my own personal knight in shining armor!! We're totally buddies. And I feel like I can tell him weird things about what's going on in my head and he won't think I'm a total retard. (except maybe for what I'm thinking about right now.) I just completely answered my own question. Maybe older guys are just better.

I wonder what Lucrecia was like? She was probably kind and really smart because she was a scientist and all, and probably really pretty, too. She probably looked like a princess; Vinnie did describe his situation once to me before, and I won't forget it. Even he, who I think is probably someone who doesn't judge someone's looks very much, said she was "far too lovely to be shut up in a lab all day", or something to that effect. I bet she had flowing, long gorgeous hair the color of polished gold and sparkling blue eyes that lit a fire beneath the soul!!!! She was probably the exact type of lady who I once mentioned that he could make a killing with if someone made a comic book about them because they're both so damn beautiful in two such opposite ways that everyone would just love them and want to write creepy stalker-ish fanfiction on nothing but how awesome they are together. Hey, if we save the world and become famous, I wonder if people will write fanfiction on us? That'd be SO cool, I'd totally read ALL of them and laugh at the weird pairings and drool over all the ones about me and Vinnie. In fact, since I'm bored and talking to myself, I'm gonna sit here and make up funny sounding names for all the couples. Okay. There would first be Cloud and Tifa, which would be… Clofa? Tifoud? Tife? Cloudheart? Er… CLOTI! Yes. Okay, and then Cloud and Aeris… which would be Aeroud? Cloudborough? Aerife? Cleris, oh, that one's good. Okay. Cloti and Cleris. Then, lessee.. Hee hee! Me and Vinnie, of course!! Now what would that be… Vinfie? Naw. Yucent? Weird. VINCERAGI!!! HAHAHAHA!! Er… no. Uhm… Yuffentine? Huh. Okay, that just sounds stupid, but that's probably what it would end up as anyhow since it's the catchiest one, so Yuffentine it is. And then, we have to have our alternate "rival" pairing, which is definitely Vincent and Lucrecia. Vincia? Lucent? I wonder what Lucrecia's last name is? Er.. Lucentine? Since it's the rival pairing, that'd make sense. But everyone would just love Yuffentine so much that Vincent and Lucrecia wouldn't even HAVE a snazzy name like we do. Hyahaha…

I'm so bored… Honestly, two HOURS? Of nothing? Vinnie may be able to stand forty freaking years of nothing, but it's only been fifteen minutes, and I'm dying here! Gah! Isn't there ANYTHING around here? I should probably know, huh, since I was loitering around here when I came across Spike and the others.. Ah… memowies…. Sniffle…

"Hey… Vinnie?"

"?"

"Want to start up that game of Truth or Dare again?"

"…no."

"Oh. Why?"

"I told you, it's masochistic."

"Okay then, how about Spin the Bottle?"

"…no."

"Aww. Why?"

"There are only two of us, and that sounds equally masochistic."

"Fine… Let's play with the Fire Materia!"

"…no."

"You are NO FUN, Vinnie!! Why not?!"

"You'll set fire to the entire plain."

"Will not!"

"I'm not going to give you the Fire Materia. And you don't know where it is, so you can't take it, either."

"I do too know where it is. It's in the ankle of your left sock."

"…"

"I know, I'm so good."

Silence for fifteen more minutes.

"Where is CIIIIIIIIDDDD???" I moan, spread eagled on the ground. I flail my limbs wildly with impatience.

"Only thirty minutes have passed, Yuffie."

I peer around at Vinnie, a sulky look on my face. "Aren't you bored out of your mind?"

"No."

I groan and bury my face in the grass again. "Well, why not?"

"It has only been thirty minutes, and there is always plenty of activity in one's mind if you look for it."

"I wonder if it's true that the older you are, the shorter time seems," I wonder aloud, voice muffled in the grass and dirt.

"Perhaps, seeing as I am a very old and powerful vampire who is immune to many of the usual forms of vampire-slaying."

I roll over and sit up, staring at him. "Really?"

He smiles ever so slightly, sending a tingle up my spine. "No."

"Those kids never gave me my crate of Materia."

"I told them to forget about it."

"Again, you have sucked the fun out of my life Vinnie. I think you must be a vampire of sorts after all!!"

Fifteen more minutes of silence.

The next thing I know, I'm laying on a cot in the Highwind cabin, my armor lying in one of the cubbies on the wall, and my back has a knot in it from sleeping on a loose spring.

"Hey, Yuffie Kisaragi!"

I turn towards the voice to see Cait Sith bouncing towards me from the door. Sitting up with a wince, I ask groggily, "Whut happ'n'd?"

Cait Sith waves his megaphone around wildly as he speaks and hops up and down, not really helping with the immediate wave of airsickness that sets in. Augh…

"When we got to Fort Condor, you were sleeping, so Vincent Valentine picked you up and brought you in here instead of waking you up! Wasn't that nice of him? You should definitely thank him, yessiree!!"

"Vinnie brought me here?" I reiterate, rubbing at my eyes. "Ah, you're right, I should thank him, Cait. Do you know where he is?" Still drowsy, I crack a huge yawn and stretch, cat-like, before standing up.

"Yeah, he's on the bridge!"

"Thanks, Cait."

I make my way shakily towards the bridge, nausea making the back of my neck prickle. On the way there, I pass Nanaki, who nods at me before walking past. I smile.

"Hey, Nanaki!" I turn around and run after him. He stops walking and looks around at me through his good eye and nods again.

"Hello, Yuffie, how are you?"

"Great, thanks… Hey, do you think I could talk to you about something?"

He tilts his head to the side before smiling in a rather doglike manner. I know he's technically a cat, but hey…

"Is this about Vincent?"

My eyes widen. How'd he know…

"Uhm. Why, yes, it is, Nanaki," I reply uncomfortably, squirming under the scrutinizing gaze of Nanaki's single golden bright eye. After several moments, he finally nods.

"Sure, Yuffie, let's talk on the deck."

So I follow his lighted tail up the stairs, and out the door leading to the outside, nausea long forgotten. As soon as the fresh air hits my nostrils, I inhale deeply, feeling the dizziness and whatever remained of airsickness dissipate in a great gust of relief against my eager skin. Trying not to look down, because that would be pretty scary, I sit against the side of the ship in the shade with Nanaki at my side. For a few minutes, we sit in silence, enjoying the fresh air whipping past. Really feels good; it was pretty stuffy in that cabin. However, much to my surprise, he talks first.

"Do you like Vincent, Yuffie?" he asks. Well, just cut to the chase, why don'tcha, dear Nanaki? Sheesh…

"Yeah, he's cool, I guess," I reply, trying to sound nonchalant. It's not that I feel nervous or anything talking about Vinnie. It's just that I don't want it to seem like we favor each other or anything. You're probably wondering, "why does Yuffie wanna talk about Vinnie with Nanaki?" Honestly, Vinnie's a puzzle I can't put together without some insightful advice. And Nanaki, besides Vinnie himself, is definitely the best candidate for that job. Also, sometimes, you just wanna talk about someone for no reason, really, like why friends talk about each other for no reason. It feels good.

"Well, I'm sure he likes you, too," says Nanaki, the doglike grin back on his face. "There is an unspoken trust there that I don't sense with anyone else, even between Tifa and Cloud. You may not see it or believe it, but Vincent relies on you just as you can with him."

I look over at Nanaki, questions written on my face. "How do you know that?" I ask, head cocked to the side. I draw my knees up to my chest and wrap my arms around them, hugging them to myself. "Vinnie is so private that I couldn't do anything to help with anything he's been through, even if I tried. He's helped me out tons of times, yeah, but I sorta just follow him like a sidekick or something. It's kinda annoying 'cause everyone sees him as the leader/negotiator/boss guy, but now that I think about it, he's probably right for that job, huh?"

Nanaki sniffs lightly, eyes focused out on the mountaintops blurring past. "I don't think Vincent sees it that way at all, Yuffie. Nor do I, really. It's true that Vincent is a very charismatic person, even though he is quiet. However, there are jobs that you do that he cannot, and thus, he relies on you to do your part as you do to him." Nanaki lets out a soft sigh and leans his head down to rest on his folded paws. "That's the way all good mutual relationships work," he states matter-of-factly. "The fact that you are merely there, keeping his eyes focused forward on the uncertain future is what you can and are doing to help him escape what happened to him in the past. Healing will come with time as long as he continues to move with his eyes in front. And he may not realize it, but the healing has already begun, and you are allowing it to be so."

I blush a little and look out at the passing scenery with Nanaki. "I hope you're right," I murmur. "I just felt like I really owed him for all the kindness he gives me, because I always find myself being annoying or bothersome."

"Kindness is earned from that man, Yuffie. He would not show it to you if you were nothing but a burden to him, believe me."

"Thanks, Nanaki."

We reach Mideel in about an hour. But instead of being bored the rest of the way, I do what Vinnie told me about, and I just let the activity in my mind take me away for a little while. I hope I'm not a burden to Vinnie. I really do like him. And no, it's not because he's hot, but that's a plus, I suppose. Beneath the cold exterior, I think Vinnie is just a normal man, full of more than normal warmth. You've gotta search for a while, but if you're just there for the guy, he'll be more than there for you in return. At least, I hope that's the case. All in all, though he seems kinda detached and lonely, I think he's really got the potential to be a one hundred percent team player. Weird how it goes that way, huh?

As Nanaki and I climb down the ladder to disembark the Highwind, (I'm still not exactly sure how he does it.. some sort of weird shimmying motion…) I decide to try my best to be a real friend to Vinnie. In my life of seventeen years, I haven't had a lot of friends. So Vinnie will be a very special friend to me, too.

Okay, time to cut the mushy crap.

Or, at least until we get to clinic. I'm pretty sure we're going to be hearing more grief from the doctor about Tifa refusing to eat, sleep, or breathe in her restless devotion to Spike rather than about Spike himself.

You know, I think I'm a little dizzier from traveling than I thought. I swear that I just felt the ground shake... The others climb down after me, me being the first off the ship, actually. When they reach the ground, they don't seem to notice anything. I bet it was just me.

Mideel, Spike, and Tifa, here we come!

* * *

Author's Note: Thank you for bearing with my slowness, I am so sorry about it… I stayed up last night and calculated an approximation of how many chapters more this will be, and I think that this story will reach around twenty chapters. Originally, I'd guessed twenty-one, but since twenty seems a little more uniform, I think I'll shoot for that.

Believe it or not, when I was writing the first chapter, I had planned to make this into a one-shot. That's why it flows so briskly in the first chapter and then slows down when Yuffie meets Vincent, where I decided to make it multi-chaptered. Haha.. I should probably fix that when I'm done writing the rest of the story. I'll probably just rewrite the first chapter entirely. I still don't like it. It doesn't encourage people to read further, really. Hummm….


	13. Mercy

The Materia Hunter—Thirteenth Chapter: Mercy

* * *

Author's Note: Well, I went ahead and bought Dirge of Cerberus. Hyahahaha. I don't think I'm going to be able to finish though, because I'm so pathetically incompetent at first person shooters. From what I've seen so far, I'm a little amused at Vincent. Actually, really amused; I was laughing so hard that I thought I'd laugh up a lung when he did the cape-flick thing. And the dramatic pauses paired with the sudden extra cheesy head turns. It really makes him seem very melodramatic and emo, doesn't it? 

The fact that it was on sale for sixty percent off kind of told me that people weren't buying it too much any more. But it's my responsibility to know my stuff!! So…

I'll get my brother to play it for me while I watch.

* * *

Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy VII.

* * *

The sharp fragrance of untamed wilderness meets my nostrils as we venture into the jungle on our trek into Mideel. Luckily the walk is only about a mile and a half to the town, so it isn't a long journey on foot. From the trees, exotic birds call out, and roots attempt to choke our progress, forming a jagged staircase on the wild jungle floor. I hope Tifa's doing okay. I'm sure the nurse forced at least a couple of those protein shakes down her throat, but when Spike's in danger, I'm sure there's no way to get anything through to her unless it involves him. 

We pass a random cornfield in the jungle.

I swear, this is the only place ANYWHERE where you can see a random cornfield in the middle of a wild jungle.

After a little less than an hour of walking, we reach the wooden bridge leading to the cleared jungle area that is Mideel. As we cross into the small town, I definitely feel a tremor in the ground, for sure this time. But, again, the others seem to not notice a thing, and they keep walking towards the far edge of the town where the clinic is located. Maybe it really, really is just me.

"Hey, guys, wait up for me!"

As calmly as possible, we enter the small white clinic, and the moment we cross the threshold, calm turns to tumult as Tifa's mad crying meets our ears and we all rush into the adjacent room where we know Cloud is, the doctor and nurse shouting in surprise, hot on our heels.

"Now, really, what is the meaning, barging in suddenly like this—oh, dear, Tifa, what is the matter?" The nurse's scolding voice turns to one of comfort as she wraps an arm around Tifa's shoulder's, shaking her gently. I tear my eyes away from the scene to look at Spike, sitting lazily in the wheelchair. And I barely stifle a gasp as I step back in shock. Now I know what Tifa cried out for.

Cloud's eyes are wide open, unlike before, the entirety of his eyes radiating the color of the Lifestream, whites and all. His mouth lolls open, not a single voluntary muscle in his entire body working, and he had been strapped up into a sitting position in the chair. But the most disturbing part of it all is his skin. It glows translucent white, and you can see every vein and artery in him. At the apex of his left elbow, something skinlike and odd juts out off at right angles to his forearm, and the same at a few of his other joints. Barely daring to move, I creep forward, cautious and scared, then jump back again in horror. The skinlike projections are formations of something like crystals, tinged light green, with his skin clinging loosely around them. They seem to burst forth like leaves from a branch, budding and pale. Thinking of this, I force down a bit of vomit in the back of my throat.

"Doctor," I croak in a half-whisper, "what's wrong with him?"

The doctor, who had been kneeling at Cloud's side, trying to get him to close his eyes, shakes his head. "Mr. Strife has a very advanced case of Mako poisoning," he says, staring at the crystal growths on Cloud's elbow. "I still cannot understand why he is still alive, but you can see…" And with that, the doctor lifts up Cloud's shirt, and I gasp for real this time. I can barely see his heart through his see-through skin, pumping the blood through his just as visible blood vessels. Even his lungs are oddly translucent, allowing one to view the shadow beneath them that is his heart. His ribs look as though they are made of glass, and the same for the surrounding cartilage. Again, I suppress the urge to throw up.

"… his heart is still beating."

I stare, wide-eyed at Cloud's heart until the doctor gently pulls his shirt back down, having succeeded in getting his blue-flooded eyes to close. Biting back tears, I look at the doctor again.

"Is he going to die?"

The doctor looks up at me, an uncomfortable grimace on his face. Something tells me that this guy isn't too used to death, even though he's a doctor. When a person gets really sick, they probably go to a big city like Junon for treatment rather than stay on this island with no technology.

"I don't know. Like I said earlier, there has been no one that I have ever seen who has been alive at this stage of Mako poisoning. Sometimes, very rarely, someone manages to fall into the Lifestream at some break point in the earth. And a lot of the time, these unfortunates wash up here in Mideel. If they were in the Lifestream for a very short time, they recover within a few days and are fine. But if they were in the Lifestream for a long time, like Mr. Strife appears to have been, they would turn up already dead, oftentimes showing the very symptoms Mr. Strife came to us with. I have never seen the disease go this far. It is shocking and disturbing to observe the workings of such Mako exposure on the body, like no other disease on this Planet."

The others are all crowded around Cloud and Tifa as the doctor talks to me, comforting Tifa, staring warily and concerned at the inanimate Cloud. I'm not sure what to say. If Cloud dies, then we're all dead. Cloud is half of our rallying force, and the other half is already gone, sunk to the bottom of that Ancient Lake. As I remember this, I begin to cry. If Aeris were here, she'd be able to use her Ancient powers to speak to the Planet and cure Cloud, right? Aeris always made things better. If someone was hurt, Aeris could knit their wounds with a single touch. If someone felt sick, Aeris could purge them with just a look and a few chosen words. She could cheer you up using just her smile. Whenever I was with her, I felt like I was with Mom again, feeling the comfort you can only feel when you're with your mom. I didn't know her nearly as well as Tifa knew her, or nearly as long, and yet the sadness of losing Mom came again when Aeris died… that same terrible sadness. It's still there in the back of my mind, and it surfaces when I least expect it. Like now. The only time I don't feel myself becoming overcome by the sadness of Aeris' death is when I'm with Vinnie, really. He keeps my mind occupied with other stuff.

And Tifa… strong, never-broken, a source of strength for all of us… If Cloud died, she would break. And we'd all lose the will to do anything else after that.

It feels like that possibility is becoming more and more close by the moment.

Yes, I want Cloud to live. I'm not sure what I'm fighting for any more. I always thought it was the Materia. But I don't want to stop fighting now, even if I could get all the Materia if we did stop. Maybe it's logic. What's the point in Materia for Wutai if our Planet is destroyed? Maybe I just don't like Sephiroth, maybe I just feel uneasy with the whole thing and want it to be over the right way. Maybe these guys are really my friends. We've been together a long time now. It's natural to want to defend and cheer up your friends, right?

I look over at Vinnie, who is sitting on the floor next to Cloud's chair, staring at the crystals growing off his elbow, seemingly deep in thought. Melancholy clouds his eyes, and he looks vulnerable, almost. Not wanting to catch Vinnie in a moment of weakness, really, I look over at Tifa, who seems to have pulled herself together and is answering some questions Cid is asking. Nanaki is occupied with Cloud's right hand, a contemplative scowl on his face. And Cait Sith seems to be off and dormant again. His controller back at Shinra HQ must have let go of the remote or whatever. Just like when Aeris died.

My thoughts pulling themselves back together, I wipe my eyes on my glove and nod at the doctor who nods back. The nurse notices me, and I sense a feeling of pity in her. I'm beginning to not like her very much….

"Yuffie?" she asks, a kind smile on her face. For some reason, I kinda wanna smack her.

"Yeah, that's me," I reply dryly.

"Well, dear, how about we go into another room and get you some cream soda. You probably don't want to see Mr. Strife like this, now, don't you dear.." She takes me by the hand despite my protesting body language and drags me off into another part of the clinic away from the others. Gawd… what a pushy lady. Treats me like a baby, too.. I'm worried just as much as the others about Spike, and I wanna stay with him, not drink cream soda with this nasty nurse lady….

"Here." She sets a glass full of caramel-colored cream soda with a twisty straw in it down in front of me. Great. A twisty straw. Presumably so I can watch the soda swirl up into my mouth and giggle at it like a happy little child. Now I think I know why Nanaki gets pissed every time someone calls him "a cute kitty" and pets him like one. I sip the cream soda delicately, refusing to use the twisty straw. Hmph.

"I see you've gotten a little more meat on your bones. That's great," she smiles, looking me up and down. "Vincent is probably glad to see that you're looking healthier."

"He's not my dad; he doesn't care as long as I do my job," I mutter crankily, eyes darting from my glass to the door. How can I get out of here….

"I'm positively sure he does care," she contradicts, voice climbing up and down the scale to make her sound interested and absorbed in the conversation. "All friends care about each other, and you're just too cute to neglect!" The nurse says this last bit with enough false affection to make me puke. I don't WANT to be in here, I wanna be with SPIKE!

"Excuse me," I grind out, the cream soda forgotten and unfinished on the table, "I gotta go see someone I care about." And with that, I sweep out the door, leaving the too-nice nurse behind me. Any other day, and I probably wouldn't have been so irritated, but Spike's in there dying, and I just don't feel like humoring her at the moment.

Irritable, I go back to where everyone is, now crowded around Spike's chair. I sigh and sit on the floor by his foot.

The ground rumbles, like a roll of thunder rocking beneath the surface. This time, the others notice, and they look about warily. An earthquake? I look out the window.

Oh.

My.

Freaking.

Gawd.

Geysers of Lifestream have erupted throughout the town, one spurting up only about ten feet from the clinic. Cracks in the ground crawl their way across the stone paths, and as the ground gives another ominous tremble, I hear the smashing of falling fences and the crashing of flower-pots, tumbling out of windows and off of porches.

"Hey, guys, look!!!" I frantically gesture out the window, to which everyone immediately turns. Time seems to stop as they stare, struck, at the scene outside.

"We need to get out of this building!" shouts the doctor, herding us all to the door. "The structure won't hold long after the big tremors start!" Right on cue, a huge rippling wave tears through the earth, and I hear the foundation of the clinic cracking beneath our feet. Without a word, we all run from the place, Tifa grabbing the handles of Cloud's chair and wheeling him out behind us. As I reach the main path through town, having to leap over a widening crack the ground as well as a fallen fence post, I look back to see the clinic suddenly covered in a great shadow.

"#$)&!! WEAPON!!!"

One of the Weapons that flew from the Northern Crater hovers overhead. Oh. Crap.

"Let's make this quick! C'mon!" Cid flails his arm out to the rest of us, and out of the corner of my eye, I see Tifa lingering in the white doorway with the wheelchair, Spike sitting in it, limp. Hurry up, Tifa… Or you won't make it out!

The Weapon lands it front of us and lets out an air-shredding roar. I cover my ears and wince. The others whip out their weapons, and once the sound dissipates, I unstrap my shuriken from my back, Mideel crumbling around us. In front of me, wasting no time, Vinnie immediately fires off two shots into the head of the creature, and Nanaki releases the column of white hot flames of a second level Fire Materia. After the fire disappears, Cid dives in behind it, driving his spear into the giant leg of the Weapon, who shakes him off with a flick, sending him skidding back. Another great roar, and we're all forced to the ground by a sudden Demi attack, our bones creaking under the pressure of crushing gravity.

When the spell finally lifts, I gasp for air, flooding my compressed lungs. I weakly hold up my shuriken in front of me and go sprinting in, gaining the momentum to ram the point of my Crystal Cross into the Weapon's leg. Before it can react, I flip myself onto the leg and run up it as far as I can using my quickly diminishing momentum, the Cross buried into the tough flesh behind me. As I launch myself off the Weapon's side, dislodging my shuriken, I barely catch the tail coming at me out of the corner of my eye before it bludgeons me full force in the stomach, sending me hurtling to the ground. I land on my back and go sprawling along the pavement until I impact the side of a house. Raising my head a bit, several moments later, I see Tifa struggling to maneuver Cloud over the crack in the ground in front of the clinic, the doctor and nurse in front of the crack, grasping the ends of the arms of the chair. Then, I black out.

I must not have been out too long before my eyes shoot open and dart to Vinnie, looking at me fiercely, his hand flung out at me, the glow of Revive Materia still lingering in his fingers. I flash him a grin, and he nods, grabs his gun from his holster, and then leaps forward with the others. I didn't know the Revive Materia had leveled up so much. Apparently, he must have cast Life 2, because if he'd cast only Life, I'd be conscious, but still pretty crippled. I stand up, my back aching dully. Ah, that's gonna hurt in the morning.

The battle seems to wear on forever, but must last only about ten or fifteen minutes. I dash back to the scene as the Weapon sweeps my teammates with it's long spiked tail. They all fly back as I rush forward, careening backwards past me. As I let the Crystal Cross fly at the monster, I activate the Enemy Skill Materia and throw my hands out towards them at the foot of a short stone wall. The White Wind collects them all up in a bundle of bright light as I turn back towards the Weapon to catch the Cross flying back to me. Just as they all reach the battle area again, the Weapon takes flight and escapes. Immediately, we all start running towards the exit of the town, Cid cursing somewhere behind me about cowardly Weapons. I dunno. I'd rather fight it later in a safer place, honestly. I wonder if it has Materia… argh, stop it Yuffie, you shouldn't be thinking about Materia at a time like this…

We cross the wooden bridge, which is somehow still intact, and reach the mysteriously calm jungle outside. I look back as we successfully escape to shout in panic as I see Tifa running, a large crack shearing the ground in front of her. If she left Cloud, she could easily leap over it, but she'd never do that.. The crack suddenly widens, gaping like a giant ravenous mouth, and I scream again, my feet automatically flying from their safe haven towards the scene as Tifa and Cloud tip into the mouth, straight into the blinding green of the Lifestream. As I get to the crack, I make to reach down into it, hoping to somehow catch Tifa, but two arms grab me from behind, and one catches my wrist before it plunges down into the Lifestream. Tears prick up in my eyes as I catch sight of Cid restraining me with an arm across my collarbone and another barring my waist. I whip my head around to see Vinnie's claw tightly grasping my wrist, and I can feel the fingers digging into my skin. His face is oddly feral, and a sudden prickle of fear surfaces in my stomach, then dies down as his eyes soften with relief.

"Don't touch the Lifestream," he says softly, eyes glancing at it for a moment before he turns around and leads me by the wrist back to the others, Cid having let go of me and set off towards them already.

"How can you be so calm?" I ask, my voice quiet and trembling as tears start to roll down my cheeks. I turn my head around to see the crack that swallowed Tifa and Cloud whole again, thinking about breaking away and diving into it to try and find them.

"They are in the care of the Planet," Vinnie replies, eyes cast down, his long eyelashes veiling the red color underneath. "If the Planet wishes to give mercy to them, they will survive."

"B-But you heard what that doctor said!" I cry, hiccupping loudly. "That people who have been in there a long time wash up dead! Spike may be resilient against it from SOLDIER, but Tifa's got no chance!! We gotta go in there and get them out before it's too late!!"

Vinnie clamps his fingers down harder on my wrist, and I wince slightly. "Lifestream is not like water," he says urgently, as if he was saying rushed last words. "It is the Planet's blood, and the Planet alone controls it. Therefore, it is mysterious and unpredictable, a substance people should not tamper with. When you touch it, it threatens to drive you straight out of your mind; it tests you completely to every limit, and separates every memory from one another, then mixes them, allowing things you wished you'd forgotten to your conscious surface."

I cry harder now, my knees going weak under me. "But Tifa and Cloud are in there! If we can't save them, then they'll be in there until they die!"

Vinnie shakes his head. "The Planet will decide if they are worth saving. If they pass her test, she will relinquish them."

I say no more, but tears continue to run down my face, and I sniffle and hiccup, probably looking pretty stupid, but I don't care… Planet, please save my friends… Aeris… please, help them.

The others seem to understand the situation somehow. I guess this is the kind of stuff you get to know when you live out on the main part of the continent where there are Mako reactors everywhere and lots of research and experiments with the Lifestream and Mako. Wutai doesn't involve itself with the subject very much. We're very isolated. The only part of it we have shown interest in is Materia, which doesn't have much to do with Mako hazards.

The only thing we can really do now is wait.

_Planet… Aeris… please save my beloved friends._

"Hey, Vinnie…" I start in a hollow voice, sitting on the moist jungle floor as the Lifestream gurgles and shifts behind us. "What were you parents like?"

Since he's sitting next to me, I can see the weird nothingness behind his eyes. "My mother was a normal woman," he says, not looking at me as he speaks. "She wasn't too distinguishable. She loved me enough, I suppose. I left home early to become a Turk, and never felt a particularly strong attachment to her. My father was a scientist for the Shinra. I don't know what he did specifically."

"Oh, I see," I mumble, not really having much of an appetite for talking, but desperate for a distraction. "My mom died a long time ago, when I was little. I love everything I remember about her, but the fact that she left us makes me pissed. She died of issues with childbirth, hemorrhages or something. But my dad got more and more bitter after she died. And he started to not want me any more. He wanted to trade me somehow for Mom, and he made sure that I did everything in his power to become a copy of her. For a long time, he wouldn't let me cut my hair, and I always had to wear kimonos and her perfume, and I had to practice women's martial arts, not to be a ninja, but to battle using more "elegant" things like daggers and various pointy things with poison on them. It was seriously gross, but I thought that he'd stop shunning me if I turned into her. But Staniv pulled me aside one morning.. and I'll never forget this—he said, 'Yuffie shouldn't be anyone else but Yuffie because if Yuffie fades away, then people will miss her. And Yuffie should help her dad by honoring the memory of her mother and letting her watch over the daughter she had with the man she loved from shining scales of Leviathan in the highest place in Heaven. Her own daughter. Not a girl trying to empty herself out inside to make room for a copy of her mother.' For a while, I just cried because he was right and I felt guilty for not honoring Mom. But before I went to the women's martial arts training that day, I took the big four point shuriken off the wall in the dojo, sawed off my hair, knotted it around what had been my training weapons, and put them on Dad's futon with a note saying that I was leaving. I also smashed Mom's perfume on the floor. I was so mad at him."

By now, I know I'm probably talking to myself. But it feels so good to just talk out loud.

"Is that when you left?" He was actually listening to me. Huh.

"Yeah," I murmur. "I had really no clue what I was doing at first. I took the four point shuriken with me, but I didn't make it off the peninsula before I got overtaken by one of the monsters. So I got dragged back to Wutai. Everyone was mad at me, which made me madder, which made them madder… and so on. I moved out of Dad's house and got a place all the way on the other edge of town, and I stayed out of the public eye. Wutai was still in decline from the war, so we were hurting pretty bad economically. So my old man sold our honor to the devil and the _tourists_ started feeding in. Suddenly, souvenir vendors started popping up all over the place, and various inns and Eastern Continent restaurants began to build up. What used to be a beautiful and humble place became a place of flashing lights and sightseeing. I once left for a week to secretly train with a friend who taught me ninjitsu, and when I returned, someone had started tours of my house because I was the Lord's daughter and because my house was one of the only traditional ones left. That's when I knew that I really had to leave, really had to work hard to get strong enough to make it out on my own. I started thinking about how I could make enough profit to drag Wutai from its sorry state on my own. I had always liked Materia a lot, and it's valuable. So the quest for Materia began."

Vincent moves himself to where he's sitting on front of me, legs folded back under him, his knees touching my leg. He reaches forward and gently wipes at my face with a gloved hand, and only then do I realize that I'm crying again. Ah… I hate this… I turn away from him and brush his hand away.

"I didn't mean to make you barf pity all over me, Vincent, I just kinda started talking and didn't stop. Sorry, I'll talk to myself quieter after this."

"Having someone listen to your story is more fulfilling than telling it to yourself."

I look up at him, still in front of me, blandly. "You really wanna listen to this?"

"As long as you'll allow it."

"Very well, but if you start to snore, I'm going to stick grass in your mouth." For some reason, I can feel a little of my old self returning. Distraction and maybe feeling some of the weight being lifted off my shoulders. It's a good feeling… to talk about your problems with someone you trust.

"I won't fall asleep."

"I have warned you, then. I was gone for about a year, collecting Materia that had been discarded, from Materia caves, and occasionally stealing it off travelers who didn't seem to need it. 'All' Materia was a favorite of mine since a lot of people carried it Mastered and the ones who traveled alone didn't really need it anyhow. For a while, I'd feel a little guilty after stealing a good Materia. But eventually, that faded. I returned to Wutai right after I turned fifteen with enough cash and Materia to pay off a great deal of the war debts. But by then, my dad had gone corrupted on us all. He liked the foreigners and the money they liked to throw around so much. It turns out that Wutai had earned enough to pay its war debt many times over. But my old man was enjoying the good life. He took the Materia and gil I had gotten on my own, and he kept it for himself. When I found out, I almost killed him. But I think Mom must have stopped me. So I stole back what was left of the best Materia I had collected and fled Wutai again. I told myself that I would continue hunting for Materia, and I'd accumulate it until my old man croaked and I'd take Wutai under my control. The Materia would never be in my dad's hands, never. And when I become Wutai's empress, I'll sell it all, fill the treasuries, tear Wutai down to its foundations, and then build it back up to its former glory. One Materia at a time."

Surprisingly, Vincent seems to be listening intently. Then, he does something really odd. I think the Lifestream might be getting to him. He bows his head a fraction and brings his partly closed right hand back up to my face to brush my cheek with his fingers. His hand moves past my face then, and I feel it on my back, right between the shoulder blades, before I find myself face flat against him, his hand pushing me into him in an awkward, uncomfortable, beautiful one-armed embrace. I don't blush, or start crying, or anything cheesy/stupid like that. But I do put my arms around him gingerly, not really knowing what to do. This feels different…

"A heavy responsibility for someone so young, and a bitter life for someone who lives so vividly."

I scowl against the red folds of his cloak. "My life's the only one I can compare anything to, right? Can't complain when it's all I've known. It's been pretty good. I have you guys, and I'm a princess for gawd's sake, Vincent. Cool friends, and I'm gonna be able to make myself a freakin' THRONE out of nothing but Materia when my dad kicks the bucket and I restore Wutai. Sounds pretty damn good to me."

"Can you not, though, ever forget the traumas of the past? They must linger with you all the time."

I shake my head furiously. "Anything that's happened, I just get over it and move on! I know that I can get the Materia, and I've got a plan, so I just think about getting there instead of getting distracted by random crap from the past. If I ran forward all the time while looking back behind me, I'd run into a freaking pole and crack my freaking skull open. And in case you haven't realized, that would not only hurt like hell, but also probably kill me. Which would waste all efforts thus far. Right?"

Even though my face is still buried in Vinnie's chest, I can almost feel him staring at me, at a loss for words.

"Yuuuufiiieeee…" Someone pokes me in the shoulder, and Vinnie removes his hand from my back and stands. I look up.

"AAARAGGHH!!! Tifa!! Cloud!!! Whoa, Cloud, you're not transparent any more! Where'd you guys come from?!" My eyes expand to the size of saucers, and my mouth is probably hanging open dumbly, but serious, whattheheck? I know I saw the Planet's buttcrack open up and swallow them whole back there; it definitely wasn't my imagination.

"Not happy to see us?" asks Tifa in a teasing voice. She winks at me. "Getting it on with Vincent while we were gone?"

Steam gushes out of my ears. "N-N-NO!" I splutter, scrambling to my feet and holding my hands up in a hopefully convincing gesture (because "n-n-no" didn't sound too persuasive). I'm glad to see Tifa. I really am. But why does she DO this to me?! Wah..

Ah. Yes. Change the subject.

I turn to Spike, a giant fake grin on my face. "So the Mako poisoning's healed? What exactly happened down there in Lifestream? I guess the Planet must have decided to save you, then!"

He turns his head towards me, unsmiling and forlorn-looking. Twitching a little under his intense blue eyes (I think they got brighter. They probably glow in the dark now), I begin to feel the sweat dripping down the back of my head. Ehhhh…..

"I guess I'm healed. Tifa and I… experienced an enlightening ordeal in there."

I cock my head to the side. "Enlightening?"

Spike walks past me before saying anything. "Yeah. Maybe we can all talk about it later. Let's get back to the Highwind." And then, without anything else, he rejoins the rest of the group, who receives both him and Tifa with rather a lot of breathless relief, and then we proceed back out into the jungle.

Brow furrowed, his stride long and purposeful, Vinnie walks along next to me, silent. He's probably either thinking about what Spike just said or what I just said about moving on. Vinnie has the most emotional baggage of anyone I have ever known. It's really scary, and you can tell that it's really heavy on him.

We get back to the ship pretty quickly, all of us shaken up from the battle and the Spike situation. Almost immediately after taking off, the pilot comes over the intercom, ordering us to the Operations Room.

"Hey everyone," says Cloud tiredly as we all congregate. "Thanks for being patient with me; I know that you all must be anxious to know what happened down there."

"No kidding, Choco-head," I grumble.

A long flashback-y speech ensues. Basically, Spike is saying that he's a victim of bungled up memories and slight amnesia, and that he covered up the truth at some point in his life. And then, he became somehow convinced that he was living the life of a First Class SOLDIER when he was really only an ordinary MP. While I don't get a lot of things about it (like why are his eyes so freaky and bright if he's not a SOLDIER), I have a feeling that the truth is going to be somehow dug up soon. When he and Tifa took their little slip into the Lifestream, they saw the truth of Cloud's past. Therefore, the rest of the evidence behind the complete truth must be out there somewhere. A mystery game!!

"All of the Huge Materia is being brought to Junon," comments Cait Sith suddenly. "I'm thinking that they must be planning to transport it via plane from the Junon airstrip. However, we have retrieved Huge Materia from two locations so far. The last remaining is the Underwater Reactor. But I have no idea where it is, or how to get to it…"

Spike hesitates for a moment, then shrugs indifferently. "We'll go to Junon," he decides aloud, looking around at us all. "We will gather clues to the Reactor's location as quickly as possible from the people living in Lower Junon. If we can't get to it, then we'll keep an eye out on the airstrip and tail the carrier plane. Alright, this is it, everyone. Let's mosey!"

A groan of embarrassment circulates around the room.

"Man… can't you say something other than "mosey"? It sounds #$(&in' stupid."

Cloud sighs and shakes his head.

"Fine. Let's squirm the worm!"

Another groan of embarrassment.

Spike is so lame that he makes ME blush FOR him. If he ever has kids, I think I might kidnap them out of pity before he tries to learn "cool, hip language", or "the international lexicon of youthful lingo". Or I WOULD kidnap them. If they haven't already killed themselves out of misery from all the kids at school picking on them because Tifa and Spike gave them adoringly retarded names and the fact that their father looks as if a chocobo exploded on his head. (Therefore resulting in the kids having half a chocobo apiece. And one day, enormous boobs. Maybe even for the son.)

Gawd, that's a scary thought. Spike, Tifa, and their evil little spawns. Yes, I am already assuming that Spike and Tifa are going to get married. I wonder if Spike will realize he's hitched before or after the wedding? He can't even tell that Tifa likes him. He'll probably pop the question one day and not even realize it. And then when he notices that Tifa's last name became "Strife" on the phone bill, he'll say, "Hey, Tifa, why do you have my last name all of a sudden?" And she'll look momentarily stunned, then say slowly, "Because we're married…?" And Spike'll go, "We are?" And then she'll shake her head sadly, having caught him in yet another moment of his chocobo-headed stupidity and say, "Yes, dear, we've been married for five years now."

Poor Tifa.

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Author's Note: Another update, another update! Updating as much as I can before school starts back up! Next chapter will include the Underwater Reactor and the mission into space! 

Special thanks to my fair and impartial beta reader, redwalgrl-RG!


	14. A Tonberry's Apathy of Water And Wind

The Materia Hunter-- Fourteenth Chapter: A Tonberry's Apathy Of Water And Wind

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Author's Note: If you had been waiting, thank you. I'm trying to get through Dirge of Cerberus. Note the word "trying".

* * *

Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy VII.

* * *

I don't know if you know this, but I have this weird obsession with Tonberries. You might say, "But they're creepy looking!" or "But they aren't as cute as Moogles!" However, for some reason, I am obsessed with Tonberries. It's been like that since I was really little. Before I got into my Materia hording frenzy, all my relatives would send me various Tonberry paraphernalia for holidays. I got my first Materia, the Command Throw, inside a life-size (which is still pretty damn small) Tonberry lamp. That was an awesome birthday…

And Tonberries are WAY cuter than Moogles. So don't even bring up that argument with me. I do love my Tonberries.

As noted by many, Junon is one of the largest cities on the Planet, aside from Midgar, which is humongous, and Costa Del Sol. Both Junon and Costa Del Sol, being port cities, are naturally large. And both of these cities possess a lot of shops.

Including…

"Tonberry Inc."

Vinnie stares emotionlessly at our destination. I can't tell what's going through his head exactly, but it's probably something akin to "I can't believe you Yuffie, stopping at a place like this while we're on a time limit." Nevertheless, I drag him inside. No point in waiting around for Spike anyhow. He did specifically instruct us to kill time while he, Cait, and Barret track down information about the Underwater Reactor.

_"Okay, Cait, Barret, you guys'll be coming with me. We're going to infiltrate the reactor. I'll PHS the rest of you after we get inside. You'll follow us in and clean up to reduce pursuit and buy us some time to snag the Huge Materia. Once we have the Materia, we'll escape back out into Upper Junon. Tifa. You'll be in charge of staying back in Upper Junon and making sure that one of those heli-taxis is waiting for us when we come out. Bribe the pilot if you need to. Nanaki, I'll leave you with Tifa as well, now that I think about it. Something tells me you might not like the whole underwater scene too much, huh?" At this Nanaki nods and Spike turns to address the rest of us. "Those who aren't doing anything until I give the word: Cid, Yuffie, and Vincent, wait around somewhere and be ready to move when and where I tell you. We'll land at Lower Junon in about five minutes. Equip yourselves and meet me out on the deck when you're finished. Mosey!!!"_

_Out of habit, we all groan and mutter words like "sissy" and "wimpy" before going to retrieve our weapons. I guess Spike's just THAT kind of guy, huh?_

So here we are: Upper Junon, Tonberry Inc., ready for action and to max out Vinnie's "invincible" credit card. The doors to the store are decorated like gates, glowing lanterns hanging on posts propping them open. Inside, the shopkeepers can be seen, wearing brown robes and Tonberry hats on their heads. Baskets are stacked next to the entrance, formed to look like oversized lanterns. In many ways, this store reminds me of Vinnie. Dark and foreboding, looking oddly like something occult, yet undeniably cute and possibly the fantasy of many, many, many girls… augh! No, Yuffie-fox, get down! We're here to shop, not oogle Vinnie. Again.

We enter the shop, and I try not to notice the fact that the blatant majority of the customers are female and between the ages of twelve and eighteen, each of them turning their heads to stare at Vinnie as we pass. Some of them drop what they're holding, mouths are dropping open, eyes are growing wider… HNARGH!!! How am I supposed to concentrate with all this distraction?! What do I do? Defend Vinnie from the stares of a store full of rabid fangirls? Or attempt to ditch him so I can shop in peace? Decisions, decisions…

"WELCOME!!!!"

A brown robed, Tonberry hatted shop girl suddenly materializes at Vinnie's side, her eyes glowing with the typically fearsome Fangirl Flames.

Immediately, I flee.

I can see it now… The guy living in that house-like cave who always tells you how many fights you've been in and how many you've run away from… He'd say to me, "You have escaped 217,398,235,082 times. Wimp." And I'd shrug it off and retort, "I'd like to see what YOU'D do if you were encountered by 217,398,235,082 fangirls…"

Are there even that many girls living on the Planet right now? Huh. Well, we might have to include the occasional fanBOY, too. Hell, are there even that many PEOPLE living on the Planet?

Finally left in peace, I walk up to a display of Tonberry plushies. They're so cute… I reach for a particularly fuzzy Tonberry plush keychain.

"Can I get you a basket, miss?"

I look up. Almost instantaneously, I feel the Fangirl Flames flaring up in my eyes.

WOW.

Pale, elegant, blonde hair, eyes so blue they're almost purple, with none of the intensity of Spike's, and thrice the gentleness. Willowy frame, tall, and perfect skin. Even though he's dressed in the store's tacky uniform, he looks like some sort of angel. WOW.

"Uh…. Uh…. Uhm…."

He blinks at me then breaks into laughter. "Er… miss, I'm a girl."

I think I'm gonna cry….

Meanwhile, on the Vinnie front….

Never mind the Vinnie front. He's so surrounded by fangirls that I can't even see him any more. He probably got eaten. Or stripped. Or stripped then eaten.

Those who will write fan stories about us in the future, please file this section under "Horror".

I stare at the blonde haired, blue eyed, disgustingly handsome shop GIRL and shake myself before grinning to try and cover my tracks. "Uh, well…" I clear my throat. "Shouldn't you be over THERE?" I point over towards to the sweating, pulsing pile of fangirls crowded around Vinnie, who I no longer feel any pity for. The girl stares momentarily then turns back toward me.

"It looks like that customer is being helped, miss," she says politely. I can't decide if she's pretending not to notice the Fangirl Flames emitting from the mob or if she really doesn't notice.

"Well then, sure, I'll have a basket," I say, distracting myself with the distant commotion. I hope we'll be able to get out of here alive…

I turn back toward the display of plushies.

My mouth drops open.

Pale, elegant, blonde hair, eyes so blue they're almost purple, with none of the intensity of Spike's, and thrice the gentleness. Willowy frame, tall, and perfect skin. Even though he's dressed in the store's tacky uniform, he looks like some sort of angel. WOW.

Wait…

"Weren't you going to get a basket?" I question, frowning at the shop girl. For a moment, she looks confused. Understanding passes through her eyes suddenly, and my frown deepens.

"Oh!" For some reason her voice sounds different now… more masculine…?

"You must have been helped by my twin sister!!!!"

I think this must be one of those "sweatdrop" moments.

"Are you a boy?" I ask cautiously, an awkward look on my face. The… person looks at me weirdly momentarily before laughing.

"Of course I'm a boy! Do I look girlish to you?"

I shift uncomfortably. "Well, you look just like that girl.. your sister."

He laughs again, pleasant and warm, and he takes off his hat, then runs a long-fingered hand through his blonde hair, a slight blush appearing on his cheeks. "My sister is sort of boyish," he says. "Lots of people mistake her for a boy, and if you catch her on an off-day, she gets kind of mad about it."

I grin. "She didn't get mad at me when I mistook her for a guy," I say, turning back towards the shelf of plushies. "Say, how much are these plush Tonberry keychains?"

"4 gil apiece," he replies promptly, his eyes sweeping over the display. "I'm glad she wasn't irritated at you," he adds, turning his head away momentarily to smile at me. "I would have to lecture her for being mean to a cute girl!"

I immediately turn a flaming shade of red. Great. Way to go, Yuffie, let's show off to this handsome, blonde, nice Tonberry shopkeeper exactly what a great tomato you can be. He chuckles and plucks the especially fluffy plush keychain from the shelf and hands it to me.

"Here, a gift for you. You can take it for free for coming here today and showing me your cute face."

I think steam is probably gushing out my ears now. But I manage to thank him somehow. A hand touches my shoulder.

"Yuffie, are you finished?" Vinnie. Wow, he's alive. Wasn't expecting that.

"Ohhhhh, your name is Yuffie, huh? I'm Letham," exclaims the shopkeeper suddenly. "And is this your boyfriend?"

My eyes bulge. "No!" I nearly shout. "Vinnie and I are just buddies."

"Oh?" he laughs. "Well in that case, perhaps a date is in order for you and I, Yuff—"

"We are here on business," interrupts Vinnie, irritation oddly evident in his voice, "and we will be staying only today. Yuffie, if there was something you wanted to buy, fetch it quickly. Cloud should be contacting us shortly."

I stare at Vinnie, confused, then nod and wander down the next aisle after pressing the keychain into his hand. Actually, I think Cloud will probably be at least another hour before he needs us. Hmm. What to buy… A sign hanging from the ceiling labels this aisle as "Costumes, Props, Kitchenware". Maybe I'll buy a Tonberry patterned wok and spatula. At the end of the aisle waits the girl from before, holding out a basket and smiling. I take it from her with a nod, and place a wooden spoon inside of it. The spoon part is decorated like a Tonberry head while the handle is painted to look like robes. Cute, really. I grab a wind-up Tonberry figure off the end of the aisle and drop it in as well.

About ten minutes later, Vinnie and I wait at the cash register, Vinnie's pristine credit card hot in my hand. (It might have been just me, but I swear, I heard the edge of it hissing with smoke.) Letham folds the receipt several times over, due to its length, and places it into the large bag containing all the Tonberry products anyone could ever want, including felt Tonberry finger puppets, a Tonberry jack-in-the-box, and even a little painted Tonberry sculpture made of what the label described as "100 Percent Genuine, Dried, Sanitized Tonberry Poop". I dunno. I just thought it looked cool. But just in case, I got a Tonberry patterned air freshener, too.

"Then, Yuffie, until we meet again." Letham sweeps off his hat and bows. Beside me, I can feel waves of impatience radiating off of Vinnie. Not wanting to piss him off, I quickly wave at Letham, the Tonberry Inc. shopkeeper, and trot out of the store after Vinnie, in some weird hurry. I wonder if Spike called him already.

"Hey, what's the big rush?" I ask as Vinnie strides down the street, eyes narrowed and focused straight ahead.

"We have work to do."

"Spike called already?"

"We have to restock supplies. Cloud didn't leave enough restorative items."

"What a butt."

We move swiftly along the sidewalk until we come to what seems to be the item shop. As Vinnie walks up to the counter to buy various Potions and affliction cures, I drop to a kneel to peer in at two shining Materia in a glass case. How easy it would be… just to sneak behind it, open the lock, and take them… I'd probably need just a couple seconds with a lock for a case like this.

No. Vinnie and the others trust me, and for now, at least, I gotta stay clean so I can finish this journey. Plus, while I don't think the shopkeeper would notice me swiping his Materia, Vinnie probably would notice. And then he'd either shoot at me or alert the shopkeeper. And then I'd be screwed. Ha, logic! The same kind of logic that took my beloved Huge Materia away from me…. Awww, man, logic really seems to keep me away from Materia, doesn't it?

_Bzzzzz. Bzzzzzzz. Bzzzzzzzzzzz._

You know, it may be just me, but my groin is vibrating rather violently. Huh. That's new. Maybe I picked up something off some public toilet seat. GROSSNESS!!!

_Bzzzzz. Bzzzzzzz. Bzzzzzzzzzzz._

This is starting to get really uncomfortable. If it doesn't stop, Vinnie will notice it. And then he'll ask me, "Yuffie, why are your shorts twitching?" And I'll just say, "I dunno." And then he'll think I'm some diseased weirdo!

_Bzzzzz. Bzzzzzzz. Bzzzzzzzzzzz._

Awwww, man! WHAT DO I DO?!

"Yuffie, won't you answer that?"

I look up, crunching my legs together in an attempt to mask the vibrations. "What?"

He blinks at me. "Your PHS. It's ringing… in your pocket."

Oh.

OHHHHHHHH.

Thank god. THANK GOD. I was so scared there for a moment that I was gonna hafta live the rest of my life with insane, trembling genitals. I shove my hand into my pocket where, sure enough, the PHS is vibrating. I pull it out.

"Hello?" It's Spike. Figures. Shoot! I forgot to give that guy—Letham my number! Darn…. Well, after we beat up Sephiroth and save the Planet, I'll go back to Wutai, become the almighty ninja queen, attach those heli-packs to the backs of a whole squad of ninjas, and have them airlift me on a big, cushioned litter all the way to Junon to visit the Tonberry store.

"Yuffie. Listen to me carefully. On that covered walk that separates North Junon from South Junon, sneak down it past the alarm system, to that door that is always locked. It should be unlocked. Go through it and make your way to the elevator. Go down to the floor marked 'Underwater Reactor'. When you get there, do what you have to do to get to the submarine docking bays. There are lots of soldiers from the military down here, so be prepared to fight. What I need you and Vincent to do is make sure that the way is clear for our return. Cait, Barret, and myself are currently in pursuit of the sub carrying the Huge Materia from the reactor. Once we retrieve the Materia, we plan to bring it back to the Underwater Reactor and escape back out into Upper Junon where we'll catch the heli-taxi. We'll have it take us to the Highwind. Understood?"

I go over everything he just said in my head again, then nod, more for myself than anything. "Yeah," I reply.

"Good," he says, serious. "We're counting on you. We'll rendezvous back at the reactor's sub dock, then. Move out!"

"Ahhhh," I drawl tauntingly. "Becoming a man, are we?"

He hangs up.

What a butt. I turn to Vinnie, who is loading ammunition into the Winchester.

"Hey, Vinnie, we—"

He looks up sharply. "I heard," he says shortly, finishing his gun with an audible click. "Since we don't know how long Cloud and the others will be in pursuit of the Huge Materia, move quickly." He nods at the shopkeeper, a concentrated frown on his face. A swirl of dark flashes in his eyes as he looks back at me, expecting me to follow him. We rush out together, running fast along the sidewalk, nearly overturning a sign and killing a dog. This probably isn't the most urgent mission we've ever had, but Vinnie's getting all hot and bothered over it for some reason. I don't really get it. No matter what we've had to do in the past, he's always been calm as a clam, and yet still deadly efficient. Never flustered, never rushed. And yet, we're running through Junon like a four legged bomb is chasing our asses to the sun and back. The proper description for any haste made by Vinnie would be "swift". But this feels more "panicked" or "rushed". Something sure has him stirred up..

When Vinnie makes a sudden turn down the covered walkway leading to the door to the elevator down to the Reactor, I nearly trip over my own feet. Abruptly, his hand leaps back to find my wrist, and he nearly drags me to the door. Just as Spike had promised, it's unlocked. Bursting into the hall, my head snaps up and to the right, startled by the distinct sound of gunfire. Immediately, Vinnie draws the Winchester, even faster than I can fetch the Crystal Cross on my back. He fires several times into a mass of crates at the far end of the hall perpendicular to ours, and I hear several loud thumps as bodies fall to the floor. After grabbing my wrist again, he runs to the elevator, which thankfully opens. (I think he'd probably blow the door open and leap down the elevator shaft if it didn't open the moment we reached it.) Two unfortunate soldiers inside are hastily shot down as we enter the elevator. Slightly dazed, I press the button to go down to the Reactor. What the heck is up with Vinnie? I've never seen him like this before. My eyes dart up to his face momentarily. I remember once thinking how Vinnie is so good at hiding his emotions, but when it comes to anger, he has a little trouble concealing it. But right now… Something clearly is agitating him. Whoever's down in that Reactor… watch out. A very pissed off Vinnie is comin' to whoop your ass!

A soft "ding" marks the end of the elevator's descent, and we edge ourselves out as soon as the doors begin to open. I hate to say it, but angry Vinnie is beginning to annoy me.

"Vincent Valentine," I hiss irritably. "What the hell is wrong with you?!"

He breaks into a faster run before glaring back at me. "What?"

"Why are you so pissed off?!"

Suddenly, he skids to a dead halt in the middle of the darkened hallway, the faint glow of Mako casting everything in a dim yet eerie greenish light. When he whirls around to look at me, I can see every line in his face and every shade in the red of his eyes, and I find him looking older than ever. Suddenly feral, his face contorts with rage as footsteps clatter ahead of us, and shouts and gunfire erupt. Without saying anything, he jerks his head to the side, and before it happens, I know it. He lets out a low, angry hiss, baring pointed canines, beginning to grow and jut out of his mouth. Blood trickles down his chin when they pierce his bottom lip, but he doesn't appear to notice. His eyes begin to glow violently purple, and I stumble backwards, just as intimidated by the transformation as I was the first time it happened in front of me, back up in the cave of the Snow Woman.

Ohmygawd.

I dive behind a crate, and the bounding footfalls of the Galian Beast fade away as he rampages down the corridor. Distantly, I hear a horrible shriek accompanied by the sounds of tearing flesh. I squeeze my eyes shut as my heart threatens to beat clear out of my chest, pounding in my ears. When the screeches of massacre fall out of earshot, several silent moments pass before I poke my head out to make sure the way is clear.

The way is disgustingly lined with dead soldiers. Cringing, I inspect one warily. He looks no older than I, white-faced, with his blood pooling on the floor around what seems to be claw marks in his chest. Vinnie wouldn't do this… But even though I know that he killed all these soldiers like this, I know that it wasn't _him_. Or was it? I stare back into the face of the dead boy as if there would be reassurance in the wide, glassy eyes. If Vinnie had control when he transformed, I wouldn't be so afraid of him. I wonder if he can see me when I run away from the Galian Beast. I wonder if the reason the Galian Beast doesn't go after me is because Vinnie is there, barring his path. But if he saw me, wouldn't he be hurt to see me run from him? Thinking that I think he's a monster and that I don't trust him to keep me safe from himself?

I feel kinda guilty now.

I hate being around the dead. They throw you into a contemplative loop like this.

I start down the dim passage, my sneakers abnormally loud on the metal floor. The startled shouts of soldiers, ambushed by the Galian Beast grow louder again as I draw near. Ahead, I can see him: seven feet of violet fur, shining horn, and deadly fang and claw, screaming with the voice of demons, delivering soldier after soldier to his own patriotic death. Among the voices of panicked men and victorious beast, my heart pangs to the sound of Vincent's own painful shrieks, ringing in my ears, dissonant with the mad war-cries of devils, invisible and inside his body. I scream loudly, bright and different among the tumult of death. "Vincent…!" I cry, not quite knowing why tears are pouring down my face.

"VINCENT GODDAMN VALENTINE, GET YOUR ASS OUT HERE RIGHT NOW!!!"

Something moves behind me. I notice too late, meeting the rogue soldier's machete straight in the back, near my stomach. Immediately, blotches of white invade my vision as the edges go fuzzy and dark. And the last thing I see is Vincent, sweaty and pale, but bright-eyed, steadying the Winchester, aiming at the assailant over my shoulder.

Everything goes black.

Lights, blinding bright, pierce through my eyes and seem to circulate like needles around the inside of my skull, invading the pleasant numbness of before. Letting out an involuntary groan, I sit up.

"What did you think you were doing?" deadpans someone at my left shoulder. I snap my head around to see Vinnie sitting by me, leaning forward with his forearms resting on his knees. He stares at me, eyes burning with feral red. Immediately, I can feel a silent anger radiating off him, more severe than the expressed irritation of before. He reaches out to me and pushes me back down onto my back, his arm against my collarbone.

"Don't sit up. Just tell me, what did you think you were doing?" His voice contains an unspoken menace, causing a shiver to crawl up my spine.

I think back to the Reactor, to Galian Beast, and I remember Vincent, dead-looking yet glowering, aiming his gun behind me at the soldier who… Immediately, my hands fly behind me to feel the wound on my back. The blood is gone, but a large bandage covers whatever's there. I remember looking into the lifeless eyes of the soldier, no older than I, and guilt..

"Guilty…" I murmur, my voice oddly elusive. Vincent continues to stare at me with unblinking eyes, unnerving, intimidating.

"Guilty," he repeats. "Enough to be suicidal, it appears."

"N-No!" I rasp, intending to sound sharper than I did. "Didn't want to make you feel bad…"

"So you thought it would please me if I killed you." he snarls. My face twists into an angry scowl and my fingernails dig into the bed sheets beneath me.

"NO, you asshole!" I snap right back him, hoping my face looks just as scary as his does. My voice comes right back to me, and I reach up to stick my finger in his face. "You, Vincent Valentine, are an unfeeling jerk. Now shut up while I answer your goddamn question." Immediately, he falls silent and shrinks back slightly, probably not expecting the reaction he got. Inwardly, I smirk.

"I felt guilty 'cuz I ran away when you turned into the Galian Beast. Thought you'd think I didn't trust you to keep it from killing me. And I do! I know it wasn't you who killed all those soldiers like that…" I say this last bit softly, still managing to somehow keep looking into Vinnie's eyes. He stands up and looms over me, reminding me exactly of how tall he is. But I continue to stare at him defiantly, hands gripped on the sheets.

"Whether it is a demon inside of me or myself, those men would have died. You know that." His voice is cold. "There is no reason to spare the life of a person standing in the way of the objective. You do—"

"—what you have to do. I know, Vinnie."

His eyes soften at this. "Then next time, don't hesitate to run and protect yourself."

I sit up this time, bringing myself up to a slightly higher level, disliking him staring down at me from such a height. "You're kinda stupid, Vinnie," I say bluntly.

He stares at me.

"Yeah, I could totally say, 'Okay..' in a soft, damsel-in-distress, nastily submissive sort of way, and then we could cuddle and hug, and you'd promise to protect me forever, yada yada, but _I am no pushover_, nor am I that defenseless damsel in distress. I trust you enough to not attack a comrade, and if you somehow did, I wouldn't hesitate to use my mega super ninja skillz to open a can of whoop ass on your sorry butt. So be careful, Vinnie Valentine, because if and when you do sprout purple fur again, you might find yourself shooting kunai knives out of your lower orifice if you don't keep yourself in line! Oh, and by the way, what happened and where are we?"

I swear, he almost smiles.

"Fortunately, Cid met up with us shortly after you were injured. He said he would take care of the Reactor, but Cloud and his group had docked early, so we all left together. Everything else went according to plan, and we are on the Highwind right now. We should take off momentarily."

"Where are we going?"

"Rocket Town. There is one last Huge Materia to retrieve. Cait Sith informed us that Shinra is planning to launch it into space to ram Meteor."

I gape. "No way." Somewhere in head, I imagine little chibi Vinnies prancing around the room, chanting, "Yes way!" I suppress a laugh.

We reach Rocket Town in a matter of only a few hours. Upon landing, it becomes obvious that something is going on. All of the townspeople stand outside their homes, staring at the tilted Shinra No. 26 in the distance, that moldy green rocket. A couple of news helicopters hover noisily overhead, and Shinra personnel run around, shouting into their walkie talkies. Immediately, Cid breaks away from the group, sprinting as fast as his old man-legs can carry him towards the rocket pad. Poor guy. With a shout and a motion from Spike, we follow him.

"Split up!!" he bellows. "Same groups as before!!! Cait, come with me, we're going after Cid! Vincent, Yuffie, take care of things around the launch pad, make sure we can get through quickly! Tifa, Barret, go around behind the rocket and do the same! MOSEY!!"

We all let out our practiced groans at Spike's ever masculine rally-cry and run off to our positions.

"Are you able to fight, Yuffie?" asks Vinnie as we run towards the front of the launch pad. He draws out his gun with a practiced ease and swiftly reloads it with a handful of bullets from the ammunition pouch on his belt.

I nod and reach behind me to grasp the Crystal Cross, securely strapped to my back. Thanks to a well placed Hi Potion and a Cure spell, what was once a gaping puncture is now just a scratch. The Highwind medics are really something special.

"Hey, hey, hey, ninja girl! Thought we'd meet again after seeing your friend down in the Underwater Reactor earlier." A mild voice comes from my side, and I whirl around, Cross at the ready, Vinnie at my side, gun aimed at someone with a flaming red ponytail, swaggering towards us with his hands in his pockets, a smirk on his face. That Turk from the airship, and from Da Chao. He turns his head and motions towards the steps leading up to the rocket.

"Oi! Rude! Get over here, we've got company!" The bald man who I'd also seen on Da Chao runs over to his friend, fists raised. "You're with AVALANCHE," he acknowledges, expressionless behind dark sunglasses. Yet, his voice carries a threat. I tighten my grip on my weapon, eyes narrowing.

"Heh," mutters the redhead, flicking his wrist to extend a dull metal nightstick. Electricity snaps along its length, and I imagine being zapped by the thing. My eye twitches slightly. Yikes.

"I'm Reno. Don't think we've introduced ourselves yet. And this is Rude," he says, nodding towards the bald guy. "Just thought you should know our names before we kill you." And with that, he lunges toward me, nightstick raised. I barely manage to dodge to the side before he swings again at my head. I duck, off balance slightly, and I stumble backwards, upon which he takes the chance to trip me with his leg. Dammit. That was definitely un-ninja-like.

"So, ninja girl," he says, looking down at me with malicious laughter in his overly bright Mako eyes. "What's YOUR name? Kind of rude, if you ask me, not offering it." He points the end of the crackling nightstick at my exposed neck, and I cringe as a couple rogue sparks meet my skin. Surreptitiously, I burrow my hand in my pocket to pull out two ninja stars. When I have them in my hand, I grab the wrist holding the nightstick, yank it away from my neck, and, using my weight, pull myself up while causing him to lose his balance and fall flat on his face. HA.

"Thanks for helping me up," I taunt. "I'm Yuffie. And I'm going use you for target practice." I hold up the ninja stars and leap away from him towards the launch pad steps as he springs to his feet. Unless he's got a long range weapon hidden somewhere, he won't be able to win against me! I fling the stars, both at once, at him. But his speed surprises me as he ducks both stars and launches himself towards me, pinning me to the side of the staircase. Panicked momentarily, I glance towards Vinnie as gunshots tear through air at Rude in the distance, who dodges just as deftly.

"Ninja girl," he snarls, one arm barring my chest, the other holding the nightstick to my neck again, his body crushing me against the cold metal of the staircase. "Don't #$#& around with a Turk." Absently, belatedly, I remember the Crystal Cross, still in my hand. Without room to kick or punch, I raise my arm and stab him squarely in the back with it. As he crumples to the ground, I make sure to step around him as quickly as possible in order to avoid the still lethally crackling nightstick in his hand.

"Don't worry," I say aloud. "I wouldn't want to #$#& around with you anyway."

"RENO!!" I hear the bald guy shout, turning his head and averting his attention just in time to catch a bullet in the stomach. He doubles over and collapses to the ground like his partner at my feet.

Right on cue, Spike and Cait come running past us. They climb the steps to the rocket, two at a time, and hurry into the rocket.

"We should guard the stairs in case any soldiers attempt to get in after them," orders Vinnie. I nod, still slightly shaken from the battle. Still slumped against the stairs, Reno gives a little twitch. I look at Vinnie.

"Should we do something about them? I don't think they're dead."

"Do you want to kill them?" he asks, red irises boring into me.

I feel my head slowly disintegrating under his stare. "Uh…" I start, looking around at them. "Well, no."

"They'll keep pursuing if they aren't kept quiet," says Vinnie in monotone, hand resting on his holstered gun.

For some reason, I don't want to kill them. Maybe it's because I can see their faces, maybe, it's because they have personalities in my mind now that I've talked to them. Faceless, personality-less soldiers don't make me feel sick if they're killed, as awful as that sounds. But I don't want to kill these guys.

"Vinnie, don't," I intercept, laying a hand on top of his, still on his gun. He looks down at our hands, eyes slightly surprised, and while I'm sure it's because of the fact I'm defending the Turks, I blush. I decide to change the subject.

"What caused you to transform earlier, back in the Reactor?" I ask curiously. "You weren't injured, were you?"

"I—" he begins, but falters at two hapless soldiers run up to the steps.

"Move aside!" they order, aiming their guns at us.

Too slow.

BLAM. BLAM.

They fall to the ground, definitely dead, the barrel of Vinnie's Winchester smoking slightly.

And I don't care.

* * *

Author's Note: And in this chapter, we find a rather noticeable lack of humor as well as the absence of Yuffie's strings of consciousness, for the most part. I wonder if the two are connected? The story moves faster when her thoughts aren't focused on very much, but that slows the development of her character. This was a fairly action-y chapter. I think I was less motivated to be very humorous for this one. My Internet keeps going off for long periods, and my keyboard was doing very strange things yesterday. So I'm a bit irritated. Hahaha. Thank you for reading! 

I want your input on something. Do you think Yuffie should go with Cloud and take part in the main story, like in the actual game more often? Of all the chapters, I think she's been in Cloud's group a grand total of ONCE. (Impressive, I know.) The reason I do this is because Yuffie and Vincent get to be alone together, and thus, their relationship deepens. But they need some action too, don't they?


	15. If You Are Vinnie

The Materia Hunter: Fifteenth Chapter— If You Are Vinnie, Please Raise Your Eyebrow

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Author's Note: I'm back from vacation, so this chapter shall make its debut. This is the oddest thing I have ever written, and it was done between about 11 PM and 5 AM. Perhaps I should rethink the chocolate chips I've been snacking on lately. I actually wrote the entire chapter in one go, the day after I posted the last chapter. I never thought I could write an entire chapter in one sitting.. I'm starting to develop a nice queue of completed chapters in preparation for the busy school year. (hence why I waited to post this until after I returned from vacation.) We're almost done, aren't we? Five more chapters remaining.

Sorry to those I told otherwise, but Yuffie does join Cloud's group in this chapter. However, the circumstances are slightly special. Read and tell me what you think?

* * *

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VII.

* * *

Wind whistles ominously through the trees as Shinra maintenance workers rush around the rocket, checking the various equipment. C'mon, Spike… If you don't get the Materia and get outta there, they're gonna hurl you into space in a giant moldy rocket and crash you into Meteor!!!

"CID!!!!" screams a woman's voice, quickly approaching. I look up, legs tensing. Beside me, Vinnie narrows his eyes but then relaxes. Feeling this, I unclench my muscles, and Shera, the woman Cid used to live with, comes running pell-mell up the road, huffing and puffing, fear shining in her bespectacled eyes.

"Is Cid… is Cid in there?!" She pleads, looking from me to Vinnie, on the verge of tears. Shaken, I nod.

"CID!!!" she cries out again, then shoves past us, clambering up the steps and the ladder. We watch her stumble into the rocket hatch, panicked as a Chocobo running away from the Midgar Zolom. Finally, I get my voice back, still wide-eyed with adrenaline.

"What was that?" I ask of no one. Something tells me that Cid's planning to go into space and there's something wrong with that rocket…

"Cid's dream," mutters Vinnie, staring not at the hatch door, but at the leaning rocket itself. "Because that woman was repairing a tank in an area of the rocket that would become unstable on takeoff, Cid never made it into space."

I stare at Vinnie, horrified. "You think that… Cid wants to actually ride that thing up into METEOR?! IS HE INSANE?! Does he or does he not understand that if you go splat into that thing YOU DIE?!?" I clench my fists and whip my head around to look back at the hatch, hoping to see Shera dragging Cid, Spike, and Cait out by their ears, but no one comes. Gawd…

"I'm going in there and bringing them back!" I declare, turning on my heel to go up the stairs. But Vinnie grabs my arm to stop me. I glare at him, threats of death building up on my tongue.

"What are you doing?! Don't you care if they die?!"

His red gaze pierces me, but I glare anyway, trying to wrench my arm out of his grasp.

"Let go!"

"No."

"Dammit, Vinnie, it's gonna take off soon!" Already, smoke has begun to gush out from the base of the rocket. I tear my eyes away from it and raise my free hand to punch him in the jaw. But he blocks my fist with his gauntlet hand and holds it there.

"They have a mission to accomplish."

"WHO #&$!ING CARES IF THE HUGE MATERIA BLOWS UP INTO SMITHEREENS ON METEOR'S GREAT HONKIN' RED ASS?!" (Alright, you know something's wrong when I say something like that…) I scream into Vinnie's face, kicking him repeatedly in the shin to let me go. He doesn't. "I-DON'T-WANT-TO-LOSE-ANY-MORE-FRIENDS!!!!" And with one more determined kick, I manage to shove Vinnie away from me, and I hear him hit the ground. Before he can get after me, I scramble up the steps and climb the ladder, monkey-like, as fast as I can. Below, I can hear the engine beginning to ignite. Dammit…

I burst through the hatch and look around frantically. Hearing voices through the door on the left, I break it open to see, to my relief, Cid with Cloud and Cait, talking.

"You idiots!" I yell, sweating and pointing towards the door behind me. "Get off this hell-ride before you get launched to your deaths!"

They stare at me for a split second before a squeal-y sounding voice begins to talk over the intercom.

"They said everything was clear, so I launched it!!!"

At the controls, Cid pounds a fist into the arm of his seat. "And no countdown?!" he demands. "Doesn't feel #$!&in' right without it."

Helloooo? Shouldn't we be PANICKING?! The room heats up slightly, and something akin to an explosion rattles the floor slightly. Oh gawd…

"BLAST OFF!!!" squeals the voice over the intercom, and I squeeze my eyes shut as Cid yells, "#!&$ it, Palmer!!!" somewhere and Cloud and Cait grab something to steady themselves. Another explosion and a rushing sensation comes. Scared to open my eyes, I fall over onto my butt as the floor rattles again violently. Ohhhh gawd.. ohgawdohgawdohgawd, we're gonna die; we're gonna crash into Meteor and die and become pancakes on the face of that giant glowing meatball, ohgawdohgawdohgawdddd. I think, as my last wish, I want to go find the Huge Materia so I can die _hugging it._ Gotta find the Materia before we die… gotta find it, ohgawdohgawd, oh-my-freaking-gawd, we're gonna die!

Beside me, Spike and Cait begin to yell at Cid. I open my eyes slightly.

"Can't we turn this thing around?!" yells Spike over the sound of engine, still working loudly below us.

"Should be able to!" bellows Cid back, looking at a trajectory map on a screen above him. "Once we get outta the atmosphere, I'll shut 'er down, an' point her back down, then start 'er up again! We'll crash into the !$#&in' water, but 's better than into that #$in' rock out there! Are you gonna look for the Huge Materia?!"

Spike nods. "Yes, we have to," he replies. Gawd, I can't believe this, but I really am really really glad Cid knows what he's doing. Really really glad. We're not gonna die. We're not gonna die. I don't hafta die guilty of kicking Vinnie's ass to the ground and probably snapping one of his shinbones in two. Oh, thank Leviathan.

"Do what ya want," grunts Cid, still staring at the trajectory. "I don' care either way. I'm stickin' with the Shinra No. 26, and I trust 'er to do her thing. Ya know, magic is great. But science… Science is a Power that man made himself. We can do things that magic can't do with science, ya know? Move stuff, make life better.. And now we can fly!" He gestures around at all the rocket equipment, beaming proudly as if talking about his own child. "Do what ya want with the Materia, I don' care. Ookay, we just broke the atmosphere. I'll start on getting us back down….. what the #!$&?!" He stands up and pounds his fist on the control panel. Immediately, I scramble to my feet and grab the back of Cid's chair.

"What?! What?!" I exclaim, looking at him with wild eyes. "We're not gonna die, are we?!"

Cid glares at Spike, who is standing there, still mysteriously calm. "What the hell's the kid still doin' on board?" he asks. "That asshole Palmer locked up the control panel. The course is set straight for Meteor," he grinds out. "Think the rocket's got an emergency escape pod, though. I dunno if it functions right, but it's our only hope now. Lemme go try and figure out how to deploy it, and you guys go find that Materia! It should be up the ladder!" With that, he runs back out of the control room into the hallway.

Spike looks at me. "Yuffie, what are you doing here?" he asks solemnly, one hand on the top rung of the short ladder. "I told you to stand guard on the ground level with Vincent."

I sputter for a moment, glaring at Spike and flailing my arms a bit in rage before I manage to hiss at him a few coherent words. "You were about to take off and die! Don't think I was just gonna stay on the ground and let you do that!" For a moment, Spike looks startled. Then, he smiles slightly, warmly. I blush. I think this is the first time he's actually smiled at me for something I did. Man, he's hot…

"Thanks, Yuffie. We'd do the same for you. Actually, we're probably going to need your help, so it's just as good that you're here. Shinra probably put up some sort of security device to guard the Huge Materia. If that's the case, you're our best hope for cracking it. Think you're up for it?" He smiles wider at me, and I look away, blushing furiously.

"Uh.. sure," I mumble.

"Alright. Let's go, then." Slightly dazed, I follow Spike and Cait up the ladder, and sure enough, at the top rests a glass cylinder suspended by metal projections off the ceiling and floor, containing the Huge Materia. Spike and Cait stand back as I approach it warily. No laser security beams, no hidden motion sensored guns, nothing too odd… But I see what they've done. The side of the cylinder is inlaid with a small keypad, indicating password protection on the Materia. Just to make sure, I flick a finger against the glass, and sure enough, it's bulletproof, so we can't just smash it open.

"You have to know a password to get the Materia out," I announce. Spike and Cait both nod. I look back at the keypad, and to my annoyance, there's a little display screen at the top. "And apparently, once you start entering passwords, there's a time limit before the container permanently locks. I don't know how much time we've got, but we're gonna hafta get pretty lucky. Cait, you don't know anything, do you?" He shakes his head sadly. Then, he looks up suddenly, looking as though a thought just struck him.

"There are a set of passwords that are fairly standard to all the Shinra databases," he pipes up. "We could try those."

"Are they all numerical?" I ask. "Because this is a number pad."

He looks forlorn again and droops his ears. "No," he says, disappointed. "There's five of them. They're "BioSciS", "BioSciG", "ArmDevHS", "ExetIatv", and, oddly enough, "MyFavoriteTonberryIsBlue"."

I stifle a laugh and cast Cait a sly look. "Lemme guess, that last one was your password?"

"No, of course not. MY password is "MoogleFunYippee"."

"Are you serious?!"

"What? It's not funny!"

I laugh for a few seconds more before meeting Spike's eyes, which are still serious. I clear my throat nervously then turn back towards the Materia. Hmmm… I wonder.. I dig around in the pocket of my shorts and withdraw my PHS.

"I don't think your PHS will work up here, Yuffie," says Spike behind me.

Who says I was planning to make a call? Ignoring Spike, I flip it open then kneel before the numberpad. Each number corresponds to a series of letters. I wonder...

"I don't think the password would be like the first three because those sound like they'd pertain only to Hojo's department and with Heidegger and Scarlet. Actually, it could be that one, I guess, if you consider this rocket to be a weapon. What does "ExetIatv" mean exactly?"

Cait makes an "I dunno" noise. "That's one of the more general, commonly used passwords," he says. "But it doesn't seem to mean anything. Since it grants access to a large percentage of Shinra's databases, it needed to be more secure and harder to crack than other passwords."

I glance at my PHS. ExetIatv… 39384288?

"Here goes."

As quickly as I can type, I enter "39384288" into the pad.

"Access Denied. Lockdown in 00:30."

CRAP.

"Shit!" I exclaim, panicking. I glance back down at my PHS again. ArmDevHS… is… Crap, I can't do this fast enough..

"2.. 7.. 6.. 3.. 3..8..4..7..!"

"Access Denied. Lockdown in 00:12."

"Tonberry… GAWD, don't fail me now…" A bead of sweat runs down the back of my neck. What is the combination for that…

"69328674—"

"Access Denied. Lockdown in 00:03." Dammit, it must be eight numbers. We're totally screwed!

"DAMMIT!" I slam my fist against the numberpad, earning a 'beep' of protest.

"Access Granted. Lockdown Canceled."

No way.

"Good job, Yuffie," says Spike mildly, reaching into the now open cylinder to grab the Huge Materia.

NO FRICKIN' WAY.

"B-b-b-b-but… I, what, geh…."

Cait breaks out into a fit of mewling laughter as he follows Spike back down the ladder. "Like you said, gotta get lucky!"

"W-Well," I stutter slightly, getting to my feet and puffing out my chest. "I AM the Great Ninja Yuffie! Ninja skillz, man!" And with a final, awkwardly frightened look at the numberpad, which is staring back at me mockingly, I swear, I clamber down the ladder to rejoin Spike and Cait.

KABOOM!!!!

I fall backwards onto my butt as the floor shakes with the force of a small explosion. What the hell…

"CID!!" yells Spike. He and Cait, also having fallen over, nearly trip over each other as they get up. We sprint from the control room and down the short hallway through the door on the right, which opens, thankfully, as we approach. (If it hadn't, I think we would have splattered into it.) A pile of rubble is collected on the floor at our feet and I gasp when I see Cid's hand, still holding his lighted cigarette, jutting out from under the biggest piece. Immediately, I attempt to pry it over, but it's too heavy to lift alone. On either side of me, Spike and Cait strain to push it over, and underneath it all, I hear Cid groan in pain.

"Are you okay, Cid?!" I shout, still pushing with all my might. But the piece of metal refuses to budge more than a few inches.

"I'm alrigh'," he says weakly. "Just a lil' stuck. 'S heavy."

"No kidding," I grunt, leaning into it with my shoulder and trying to heave it over.

A pair of feet come walking toward us, and I look up.

"Cid."

Shera steps over the remains of whatever had exploded to our side and grips an edge of it, lifting. She's a lot stronger than she looks, and we manage to flip the piece over off of Cid.

"So Tank Number Eight really was malfunctioning," he says, looking up at Shera, oddly misty-eyed.

"I'm glad you're okay, Captain," she says, offering him a hand. He takes it and she pulls the both of them to their feet.

"I… Shera, you…"

She shakes her head, and her thick brown ponytail swings back and forth as she smiles at Cid. "Come on, Captain, we can catch up later. For now, we just have to get out of here safely. Follow me, everyone." Beside me, Spike and Cait are understandingly quiet, and I guess I am, too. I remember Cid's story, and Vinnie…

"Oh, crap!" My eyes widen, and I slap two hands over my mouth to smother a gasp. Spike and Cait look at me sternly, and in front of us, Shera enters a code into a numberpad. (Curse numberpads, I hate you all.)

"Something the matter, Yuffie?" Cait is the first to speak up, and I look down at him with the air of "oops, oh crap, I forgot to pack extra underwear."

"Uh, I kinda kicked Vinnie's ass to get up here to stop you guys, and I think I might've busted his leg, and he was kinda right next to the launch pad…" I'm more shocked than scared, honestly, and I know that he's probably okay and that he can take care of himself (probably better without me around..), but he's gonna be so pissed at me…

"I'm sure Vincent is fine," says Cloud soothingly. We follow Shera and Cid into a tiny metal room with two benches facing eachother. I squeeze in next to Spike and pull Cait up onto my lap, and Shera and Cid sit together opposite us. Shera punches a large blue button beside the door, which immediately slides shut.

"Ready, everyone? We're going to detach from the Shinra No. 26."

Ready or not, she enters a code into another numberpad (grr…), and yanks a handle marked "DEPLOY". Immediately, the room gives a giant lurch, and I find myself in Spike's lap.

"Comfy, kid?" taunts Cid. I straighten myself as fast as I can, blushing darkly, Cait clutched in a death grip.

"Shut up, Cid, I just helped save your ass, so you should be giving me your Materia, or something."

"Would ya look at that…." Cid stares, mouth open, out the small window of the escape pod. For a moment, I think he's trying to ignore me, but when I look out myself, my mouth drops open as well. Stars rush past us, and in the distance, I see a beautiful galaxy, swimming with lights of all colors and its distinguished floating mist.

"I'm finally here," breathes Cid, sounding close to tears. "I'm finally in space… my dream…" And for a while, I forget about Materia, Spike's lap, Vinnie back on the ground, and the fact that Cait is wriggling frantically to get free of my vice grip in my arms. This is amazing…

"Look!" exclaims Shera, pointing to something out the window behind us. I crane my head to look, almost bumping into Cid and nearly getting impaled through the ear on a chunk of Spike's hair. The Shinra No. 26, without its cargo of Huge Materia, draws closer to Meteor, and only now do I realize how close we cut our escape… With a blinding light, it collides with Meteor, and for a split second, I hope, I pray… it'd be enough to destroy it… Even as Cait breaks free from my grasp and rolls against the door with a yelp when the pod shudders from the force of the distant impact, I'm still hoping…

But I think even a prayer from Aeris wouldn't change a thing.

The light recedes, and Meteor looms there, victorious. The only difference is a new crater on its mottled, evil-looking surface. And worse still, the broken off fragments still hover around the wound, drawing back into it, healing it… Beside me, Spike shakes his head, and I can tell he'd been hoping, too. Cid clenches a fist, and Shera sighs, forlorn. Cait lays silent against the door but his controller is probably back at Shinra HQ, staring out the window, hoping for the best. Probably, people all over the Planet are staring into the sky right now. But it wasn't any use.

"Should… should we have left the Materia in the rocket?" I ask, my voice timid, weak.

"No," says Spike, conclusively. He settles back into the seat, staring back out at the stars ahead. "When Sephiroth goes down, so will Meteor, because Aeris' prayer is still there. Our last hope. Aeris…" And by looking into his eyes, I can tell he's still in love with her.

Oh, Tifa.

Twenty minutes pass in silence as Cid presses his face against the window as if trying to absorb the cosmos into his head, living his dream at last. Cait still lays silent against the door, and Shera stares out into space with interest, occasionally following a particularly bright star or a comet with her eyes. Spike sits, staring at his hands in his lap, and I can tell he's off in lala land somewhere, probably with Aeris.

As for me, I'm angry. I'm angry at Spike for not moving on. There's someone there, loving him all this time, and he's trying to look back, desperate for even the tiniest tie to Aeris, so much that he doesn't even see Tifa, giving him all her heart. I'm angry at myself for not kicking Vinnie's ass far enough back away from the launch pad so I wouldn't have to worry about him. Or at least worry about him being mad at me. And now that I think about it, I'm angry at him too, because he does the exact same thing that Spike does, except he's doing it with that girl he used to like. Dragging on and on, bent on "repenting his sins" and claiming to only be after Sephiroth to finish unfinished business, or some crap like that, and he doesn't see that he has actual FRIENDS who care about him and that they should be more important than giving favors to a dead chick.

Wow, when we land, we're just going to have one giant love fest, aren't we?

When we finally reenter the atmosphere, I nearly scream as the pod appears to burst into flames around us. But none of the heat ever comes, and Cid just snorts, mentioning something about heat shields. I settle back into my seat and wait. We'd better not crash into some mountain and die…

Actually, we don't, thankfully. With a loud splash, we land in the ocean, and the pod floats there like a giant, scorched ping pong ball.

"Does anyone know where we are…?" I question cautiously, craning my head to look in all directions. But there's nothing but water for miles.

"Highwind's got a track on our PHSes," grunts Cid, sounding disappointed to be back on the Planet. He flips his open and presses a button. As he waits for someone to pick up on the other end, he chews his cigarette. Honestly, I'm glad he got to live his dream now. He'll probably die in a few years from smoking so much…

"Heeeeeeeey!" exclaims Cid into the PHS, sounding excited. "We're back! Got any clue where the #&!$ we are?" From the phone speaker, I hear Tifa's exclamations of relief, Nanaki running noisily to the ship's PHS speaker, and Barret letting out a whoop of relief and triumph, shouting something like "Those $!#&in' Shinra rats'll never get our guys!" And lastly, I hear Vinnie's voice, barely audible through Cid's tiny earpiece.

"Is Yuffie safe?"

I hold my breath, my heart suddenly pounding very hard in my chest.

"The kid? Yeah, she's here. Gave me a helluva scare, too." Cid glances at me, remembering how I'd worried about Vinnie, and I smile back weakly, heart still fluttering somewhere in the uncomfortable region between my chest and my throat. "I'll give ya'll the details when you guys pick us up."

"Right," says one of the airship hands, and I hear the sounds of typing. "You are currently approximately eight miles off the coast of the Temple of the Ancients. We should be there in about half an hour. Since we began tracking your landing when you entered the atmosphere, we are already on our way. Highwind out." And Cid hangs up the PHS, grinning as though he'd just woken up from the most marvelous dream.

I kinda gotta pee..

"Man those guys are good," he sighs contentedly, reclining back on the bench, stretching his legs as far out as the small space would allow.

Sure enough, only a half an hour later, the rumble of the Highwind approaches. Shera had opened the door to the pod to let in air earlier, so it feels particularly loud, especially when the airship lowers as close to the water as possible. Cait, after a long period of silence, springs to action again as a rope ladder is let down just outside the pod's hatch. Cid helps Shera onto the ladder, then follows her up himself, and Spike nods at me when I shake my head at him, an unspoken refusal for his assistance. (I am a ninja, after all!) I leap gracefully onto the swinging rungs and climb up as fast as possible, showing off. Ninja skillz, baby, ninja skillz. I pull one final maneuver: a flip over the railing at the top, and then strike a pose! Man, that must've looked mega cool. Behind me, Spike climbs onto the deck with half the grace that I had (ha HA!), and pats me on the back before heading inside. One of the crew members hoists the rope ladder back up and folds it against the railing, readying it for its next use. And when I look down into the water below as the Highwind ascends back high into the sky, I wave at the little floating pod we'd just abandoned, now affectionately dubbed, "Higher-wind: The Vehicle of Yuffie's Ninja-tastic Space Adventures".

"Yuffie."

Dramatically, my hair whips about my face in the wind as I turn around, only to have it twist right back and smack me straight across the eyes, blinding me. Dammit, that completely ruined it… Impatiently, I swipe my hair off my face, and I realize for the first time just how disgustingly long it's getting. Deciding to hack it all off later, I tuck the offending strands behind my ear and paste an innocent grin on my face.

"Uhhh… hey, Vinnie!" My eyes dart from his face to his shin, then to his face again. Heh.. heh…. "How's your leg?"

He walks toward me, his eyes hard, and for a fleeting moment, I think he's gonna push me over the railing (AUGH!) before he embraces me in a full out, nothing held back, two armed hug, crushing me against him in a death grip similar to the one I had Cait in earlier.

"Don't do that," he says into the top of my head.

"Kick you in the leg until you fall on your ass like a lame Chocobo? I promise, I won't. Next time, I'll just boot you far enough away from the launch pad so I don't hafta worry about you the entire time, not that I was worried of course, I mean, who would worry about you, since you can take care of yourself just fine, not me, since I definitely didn't worry about you!" I take in a giant gasp of air and laugh nervously, which is kinda hard, considering there's not much air here to breathe between me and Vinnie's chest, oh GAWD, he's hugging me! How the HELL did I not realize that Vinnie Valentine, the human angst-muffin/brick is HUGGING ME?!

Speaking of bricks, I think I might just be the color of one.

"Uh... s-soo… I won't do it again…" I finish lamely, stuttering slightly at the situation, my voice muffled against him. I think I'm gonna cry if he doesn't let go here soon… _He's squishing my bladder, and OH GAWD, I GOTTA PEE._

"I wasn't talking about that," he says, metal arm pressed firmly against the back of my shoulders, his other arm against my bare lower back, _and my BLADDER_, holding me to him, _REALLY UNCOMFORTABLY, OH MY GAWD, I GOTTA FRICKIN' PISS._

"Hey, Vinnie?" I interrupt. "Sorry to bother ya in the middle of your apparent confession of your undying love and devotion to me and my ninja-y goodness/sexy feminine wiles, but unless you want me to unload my bladder, which you are, by the way, squashing with your arm, on your shoe, then I suggest you let go of me and hold off your rings and proposals for just a sec."

Immediately, as if he'd been zapped with Reno's nightstick, he releases me and steps away. And immediately, as if I'd been STRUCK BY LIGHTNING, I mega ninja-dash myself inside and onto a nice, cool toilet seat where I relieve myself at last.

Exactly what did Vinnie think he was doing back there? I turn on the tiny water faucet and wet my hands with the cold trickle, feeling it dispell some of the blush still on my face. That was definitely not Vinnie-like. He's been acting really weird lately. First, he was all pissy, and he even transformed. And now he's going around glomping people, it seems, and I was one of his unfortunate victims. Hey, maybe I can somehow trap him into glomping Tifa in front of Spike, and maybe Spike'll get all jealous and him and Tifa'll get together! That sounds like a good plan…

No, no, no. Seriously, what's up with him? I bet it's PMS.

I dry my hands with a paper towel from the dispenser on the wall and throw it out in the bin by the door before leaving the bathroom.

Back on the deck…

The crew member who was folding up the ladder passes me as I go back out, leaving me alone with Vinnie, who I am, embarrassingly enough, a little scared of now. He's never acted so weird. When he just… changes… it's scary.. He was impenetrable, and very… very _cool._ Not PMSing his guts all over my hair, which I have GOT to cut… It slaps me in the face again, and I stuff it away behind my ears for the second time. How can Vinnie handle having such long hair?! Then again, his seems to do what he wants it do. From a distance, I survey him before he notices me coming, and sure enough, it's billowing dramatically in the wind, not attacking his face and trying to eat it like mine was. Lucky jerk. He's sitting against the outside wall of the ship, and I join him, a slight distance away… just in case. Ahahahaha…

"You doin' okay, Vinnie?" I ask, feeling more reasonable on an empty bladder. The sun sets in the distance, giving everything a rather orange glow. But when he turns his eyes on me, they look bloody as always.

"I apologize at my earlier… reaction," he says, and I feel the old Vinnie back here with me. Even though that hug was kinda cool, it felt too… rabid? Weird? Odd? Vinnie wouldn't hug me… And even though I won't say that it wasn't welcome, I find more relief rushing into me from his calm apology than when I finally got to empty my bladder just moments ago. I grin at him, shrugging.

"No prob, Vinnie. Wanna talk about something? Say, do me a favor, would ya, and give Tifa one of them big old bear hugs. She's been looking down lately." Muwahahahaha….

He simply raises an eyebrow at me, and I grin wider.

"Welcome back, Vinnie."

"Good to be back."

I scoot a little closer to him. "So what were we talkin' about before?"

He stares at me for a moment. "I—" he starts. "Never mind. Cid is happy now, isn't he?"

I nod vigorously. "Yeah, he was so excited!" I laugh, wrapping my arms around my legs, my knees drawn up to my chest. "You should've seen him, he pressed his face so hard against the window in the escape pod that I think he'll probably have permanent marks. We got the Huge Materia, too, because of my mega ninja skillz!" I slice the air a few times, displaying my ninja strength. Though, Vinnie's experienced it firsthand now, probably doesn't need a show. I clear my throat awkwardly. "Space was really pretty," I say, lowering my arms. "There were millions of stars in the distance, and we could see galaxies and comets and all sorts of amazing things. It disappointed me when the rocket didn't destroy Meteor. But Spike said that when Sephiroth is defeated, since Aeris prayed for us, Meteor will definitely stop." I look down sadly and wrap my arms around my legs again. "He's still in love with Aeris, you know," I murmur, not meeting Vinnie's eyes, focused on the grain of the wood of the deck. "Even though she's gone, he can't move on. I bet Tifa is sad. But she's really strong, and I know she won't give up on him. It makes me so mad!" I pound a fist into the floor. "She loves him and loves him, and he can't even see that because he's too absorbed in trying to preserve every teeny link to Aeris he has, like she's gonna come back to life. And meanwhile, it's just killing Tifa, I know it." Eyes furious, I look up into Vinnie's intense stare at last.

"It's funny how alike you and Cloud are."

He looks away from me and shakes his head. "No," he says plainly, watching as the last sliver of sun dips below the horizon. "When there is no one desperate for someone, like Tifa is for Cloud, there is no reason to not do what one can for their dead. Lucrecia deserves my life, at least. And that is all I can do for her now. Repent for my sins and hope for her forgiveness."

I really, really want to kick Vinnie in the crotch right now. That idiot…

"Why did you embrace me, Vinnie?" I ask bluntly, eyes boring into the side of his skull.

He looks taken aback for a split second, then he meets my eyes again, emotionless as ever.

"I've been losing control of the Galian Beast more lately, due to stress perhaps. That was probably a symptom, and I apologize for my ineptitude."

I glare at him. "Since when did the Galian Beast like to prance around hugging people, Vinnie?"

"I…. was concerned for you. I thought another death would be on my hands because I couldn't stop you. And when you came back, I reacted." He looks a little uncomfortable, honestly. Also, if this is like what happened with Lucrecia, I can officially say that he wasted decades in a coffin for NOTHING. NOTHINNGGG. I mean, I thought he might've been at least a LITTLE at fault for her death considering what he did as a result, but if it was like this? Wow. Just, wow.

"Vinnie, you're a moron. You're not supposed to hug me. Even if we got MARRIED, you probably still wouldn't hug me because it's not Vinnie-like. But I think you're a moron mostly because if I blasted off into space and became a Meteor-pancake, you'd lock yourself up in your coffin while the Planet crumbled around you, and you'd do nothing to stop it. Lucrecia, if she's halfway decent, is probably depressed just looking at what's happened to you. If you died, and you looked at me when you became a little Vinnie-ghost, and you saw me lock myself in a coffin for decades at a time, wouldn't you want me to move on instead of torturing myself over and over again? Wouldn't you? Vincent Valentine, you are a MORON, and no, you may not hug me when I'm finished talking, no matter how sexy I am lecturing you like this. However, I'm gonna hug you, so you'd better run now if you want to escape." And with this warning, I throw myself at him, awkwardly squashed up against the airship wall, but it actually feels right this time. I hook one arm around his neck, and the other behind his back, and I put my head against his collarbone, inhaling his scent (which actually doesn't exist, romantically enough), overall being the Yuffie-nut I am. And, to my relief, he doesn't hug me back. He doesn't run away, either. This is the second time I've hugged Vinnie. And the fact that he doesn't tense up until he's stiff as a board like when I first hugged him comforts me more than if he'd wrapped both arms around me and held me there. It means something to me. And I don't think I even need to explain it much less actually be able to put it into words.

The last fragment of glow from the sunset fades into night, and my stomach growls loudly.

Man, I NEVER get any perfect, mushy moments, do I?! I haven't eaten all day, though…

"Come on," says Vinnie, standing up and letting my arms fall back to their places at my sides. "Tifa has likely prepared dinner by now."

My eyes widen. "Since when did this ship have a KITCHEN?!"

He raises an eyebrow at me.

I just grin.

* * *

Author's Note: As for the two stories which will proceed this one, expect the first chapter of the first of them to appear on the same day the last chapter of "The Materia Hunter" is posted. Just a note to those readers who are interested but don't have me on Author Alert.

I'm really wanting to write a Harry Potter story right now. I'm rather torn between writing a one-shot about Tom Riddle or a one-shot humor story about the life of Sir Cadogan... (I don't expect anyone to really read such a thing, but I think it'd be just incredibly fun.) I really like the potential of Tom Riddle, though. But I'm afraid that it'll develop from a simple one-shot to some huge project.. on.. and on... (Just like this story!!!!!) If you have any other suggestions or requests, do let me know, I would love to hear them!

Looking through my story files, I am finding that I have a ton of stuff that I either took down or never posted. I have my first Yuffentine, which will likely never appear again, a dark one-shot about Faust VIII from Shaman King that was never posted, a freaky 1984 one-shot, strangely, the beginning of a Magic Knight Rayearth story about Umi, a REALLY scary Yu Yu Hakusho one-shot regarding Yukina and a rather scandalous pink vinyl thong, a Yuffentine one-shot I took down a while ago, a small series of stories written for my friend, which I am very proud of as they are my most humorous works (they will never be posted as I don't believe in posting material featuring original characters), and they are about Fullmetal Alchemist, and this mysterious, long original story that I have no clue what to do with. These things will probably never see the light of day again. But it did surprise me when I summed up all the material.

Some interesting things are going to come up next chapter as Yuffie contemplates her role within the team and the opinions of her teammates.


	16. Ringing In My Ears

The Materia Hunter: Sixteenth Chapter—Ringing In My Ears

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Author's Note: I am really, really sorry about the delay. I am hoping I will have a little more time to write because I have applied for college, but I really don't know. I am taking two AP sciences (Chemistry and Biology) and AP Literature, and they are having a great time right now, gnawing away on my poor little brain. Gah. As a result, my writing is getting worse and worse… It saddens me greatly. This is a very long chapter. However, it is like medicine, in my opinion… you have to take it, but you don't have to enjoy it…

A rather long chapter with not very much action, I am afraid. I want to work on character relationships here, ahahaha… I have decided that interaction with other characters, especially Cloud, has become too limited. Since these interactions will become important, it is important to develop them now. Thank you to everyone for your input on the matter! I really appreciate it.

* * *

Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy VII.

* * *

"Vinnie," I garble between mouthfuls, plate piled with the fried chicken and roast potatoes Tifa had made for dinner. "You said you were losing control earlier. Is that why you've been so odd lately?"

He looks down at his untouched plate and nods slightly. "I have to be careful to contain anger," he says softly. "The Galian Beast feeds on anger. There are other demons in there that feed on fear and other emotions, but anger carries away easily, and it can consume me… That's when the Galian Beast appears."

I swallow. "Were you mad at me, Vinnie?" I think back to anything I might have done within the last two days that would possibly piss him off, but nothing out of the usual comes to mind.

"No."

I steal a potato off his plate and transfer it to mine. "Then, why?"

"……I don't know."

I cut up the potato and begin to eat it slowly. "You know Vinnie, you should eat some of that," I say, mouth full, and I point towards his plate with my fork.

"I can't."

"Why?"

"You keep stealing it."

I give him an "oh no, you di'in't" look and begrudgingly shove the uneaten portion of the potato I'd taken off his plate back onto it.

"There. Happy?"

"You can have it. You need your strength."

"Don't play that game with me, Mister Anorexia. Eat the goddamn potato or I'll come over there and shove it up your skinny ass."

"Threatening me won't work. I don't think you want to know why I don't need to eat." His voice holds a slight menace now, and I suddenly understand. I hurriedly steal the potato back onto my plate and begin eating it hastily.

"We're going to land at Junon shortly," says a voice at the door, and I look over to see Spike, leaning against the wall. "We're going to take out the submarine again. We found some interesting things down there when we were pursuing the sub carrying the Materia earlier, and I think it would be a good idea to check them out. There is a Weapon underwater, as well as a sunken plane, mysteriously. A few alcoves on the ocean floor might yield something useful; one of them seems to lead to a hidden lake just outside Nibelheim. Since the sub radar indicated a strange reading from that passage, we think there's probably a Materia cave in there." Immediately, I start to drool. "So you guys get to pick first. Do you want to be dropped off at the sunken plane, at the hidden lake, or do you want to come with me to do some scouting?"

"HIDDEN LAKE!" I exclaim, leaping to my feet and waving my arms in the air. Spike chuckles.

"Thought you'd say that. We'll be departing as soon as we land, then."

I give him a questioning look. "Wouldn't it be better to do this in the morning?" I ask.

He shakes his head. "We're running out of time, Yuffie."

"Oh…" My face falls. I wasn't really thinking of that before, but he's right. We don't have much time. And as it stands right now, we can't touch Sephiroth.

"I don't know what you're going to find in that area," says Spike grimly. "I trust you guys are up to it, though."

I stack up my empty plates on the table and laugh. "It's just a Materia cave, right?"

"Still as, you're still just a kid—"

I scowl and launch myself at him from across the room as fast as I can. He barely dodges to the side, but still leaves me enough room to turn-toe on him and grab him around the neck. I slam him loudly into the wall next to the door and with my other hand flattened, I jab, just missing him by inches, and the tips of my fingers embed themselves in the soft metal of the wall next to his head. I withdraw them and survey the dent. Not bad.

"Don't," I snarl dangerously, "call me a KID."

Still, gotta give Spike props for having guts for what he says next.

"You're seventeen," he protests. "Which isn't an adult. I'm sorry Yuffie, but I'm more inclined to take extra measures to keep a child safe, and you should be appreciating it. Vincent tries to—"

My hand tightens on his neck. "So Vincent is WHAT?" I hiss, eyes narrowed in fury. "My babysitter?"

"Yuffie, release Cloud."

My foot raises expertly to deliver the knife concealed in my sock to my hand, and in the space of a half second, I have the knife pointed in Vincent's face behind me, never taking my eyes off Cloud once.

"Stay out of this," I growl.

Cloud's eyes flash dangerously. "Well, this isn't convincing me of your maturity," he says. He grabs my wrist with both hands and yanks my hand off his neck, but I quickly press my foot against his chest and use him as a springboard to handspring away from him. How dare he… I'll make sure he knows that I'm strong enough to handle myself. I lived alone out in the woods way before he even met me… I've been alone since Mom died!

"YOU BASTARD!!!" I scream, lunging for him again, even faster than before. "I DON'T NEED ANYONE!!" Nearly blind with rage, I punch, kick, scratch, and even bite every inch of Cloud I can reach as he tries to dodge my assault. Both of us are now unarmed, my knife laying discarded somewhere on the floor, and Vincent's disappeared off somewhere. But I don't care. How DARE HE?! I am NOT a child!! I don't need Vincent babysitting me!! And if that's all he's ever been to me, then… I don't want to think about that. Cloud grunts as my fist impacts his jaw in a heavy upper cut, and I spring away from him again, too fast for him. Breathing hard, I let my right foot scale up the wall behind me slightly, ready to throw me forward again.

"Heh." Cloud wipes a bit of blood trickling from his lip off with his finger, a devilish look on his face. "If that's how you want to display your naivety, so be it." He cracks his knuckles and takes an actual fighting stance. Bitch…

But before I can take the initiative again, he comes at me, faster than I ever expected from him. A fist flies at my face, and I barely duck before his leg comes from under me. I tumble out of his grasp and gain a little distance before aiming a swinging kick at him, followed by stab towards his neck, which he parries. Before I know it, his fist is planted in my stomach, hard and stronger than I ever imagined… I double over and fall to my knees in front of him. Dammit… I am not a child. I don't need to be coddled. I don't need extra protection. I don't need anyone!!

"Stop it!!!" cries a voice from the door. I look up, still on the floor, at Tifa in the doorway, Vincent standing behind her. She strides into the room, and I notice the huge-ass wooden spoon she's packin' just a little too late. Oh sh—

"OW!"

"OW!"

After smacking both Cloud and I across the head with a rather cruel amount of force, she puts her hands on her hips, looking very much like a pissed off mother hen. Here we go…

"We're the ones who are the Planet's last hope against Sephiroth and Meteor, and you two are FIGHTING!" she yells, brandishing the spoon. "Now, until you two are ready to apologize to each other, I want you two separated! Go!" She shoos Cloud out of the room, him protesting loudly, and I hear her say, "I don't care why you were fighting! Now, move it!"

Heh. They'd be good together.

"Are you alright?" Vincent walks over to me and offers me a hand.

"Go away," I grit out, getting up and ignoring his hand. "I don't need you to babysit me. Go off somewhere and think about your dead girl." I turn my back on him and leave him there in the kitchen, and honestly, I don't care.

I'm going to steal every last piece of Materia on this ship and hightail it straight for Wutai.

Sometime later, I find myself sulking in the Highwind cabin. I dunno what time it is. Don't care, either. Vinnie left for the Materia cave on his own. He's a big boy. He can take care of himself.

Stewing in my own turbulent thoughts, I somehow manage to drift off to sleep. I haven't had a good sleep in a while. I'm not counting the days as they go by any more. They don't matter.

_"In this silent place, you could hear a pin drop."_

**What?**

_"Lingering somewhere between life and death. Like the Devil himself."_

**Who are you?**

_"Static. Silence. Stasis. Suddenly, it is—"_

**Stop talking!**

_"Chaos. Corruption. Crisis."_

**What are you saying?**

_"Come."_

"Yuffie?"

In a whirl of colors, I'm home again, the delicate scent of tea and flowers permeating through the walls of my little house.

"Yuffie?"

The room turns in on itself and turns into a cold place, a great cavern. The only way to tell there is a ceiling somewhere in the blackness above is the enormous crystal spires jutting down into view. And while the entire place is luminous in itself, all water and crystals and silvery-black stone, it brings a chatter to my teeth and a shiver to my bones as wispy fingers of nothing undulate up my spine. My breath rattles in, and the cavern melts before my eyes in a diminishing pool of something the color of blood, growing smaller and smaller…

"Yuffie!"

A horrible, retching sound reverberates around my skull, then the tortured screams of an anonymous nobody, higher and higher, losing clarity, gaining in great guttural bounds, like a beast in hot pursuit…

My father's hands reach out from nowhere, threatening to pluck out my eyes, voices gnawing on my ears...

_"It's all your fault."_

"Oh my God, she's not breathing! Get the medic, quick!"

Like a damn Wutaian drama, isn't it?

You know your head's beginning to go bad on you when you start hearing voices that aren't really there. I bet this is all Spike's fault…

Ringing.

Don't tell me my mind is ringing at me now.

That ringing.

P… H… S…

PHS.

Gotta pick it up before it stops ringing…

Where is my PHS?

There's only darkness here.

Am I dead?

_You'll be dead yet…_

Shut up, you stupid evil voice. You're even more annoying than a drunken Cid in one of his Shera-obsessed stupors.

_Then wake up!_

That's certainly disturbing. First there was ONE voice. Obviously a guy's voice. Probably an evil guy's voice. But that last one was DEFINITELY a girl's voice. A girl's voice with that singsong-y lilt that Aeris always spoke in.

LIGHT.

Next thing I know is light, machinery, and the hum of the Highwind, a raw burst of what feels vaguely like life suddenly engulfing me like a blast of cold air. By the rumbling of the floor, I can tell we're in the air, and at the thought, my stomach gives a slight turn. Great…

"Miss Kisaragi, thank goodness. We were worried when you passed out," says a voice breathlessly, somewhere to my left. My eyes dart up to the face of the blue uniformed Highwind medic. I nod, beginning to feel slightly queasy.

"Where are we?" I ask promptly. "Where are we going?" I wonder if we're far enough west for me to get to Wutai… It wouldn't be hard to steal a parachute and jump over the deck railing if we're close enough for me to get there on foot…

"We are heading towards the Materia cave near Nibelheim to retrieve Mr. Valentine."

Damn. Vinnie, no, _Vincent _has possibly ruined my plan. Well, next chance I get, I'll break for it. Even Rocket Town would be okay. I'd just have to stowaway on a boat heading over to the peninsula. So close… and yet, I definitely think I would not be able to evade Spike and the others over the Mt. Nibel long enough if they happened to follow me. I'll just have to bide my time for a little while until we fly near enough… Then I'll jump ship, drop off the Materia in Wutai, then become a traveling ninja-thief princess again! Woo!

"We'll arrive over the cave in about five minutes. We'll send a ladder down for him, then we'll be in touch with the Captain for where to go from there."

I break out of my thoughts to find that I'd been staring at the medic, unblinkingly, for several seconds. Heh. Probably am starting to freak him out.

"Okay," I finally say. "Okay. G'luck with that."

The medic just smiles at me knowingly. (What the heck?)

"Actually, I think he'd like it if you were there to greet him, don't you?"

I stare at the medic blankly.

"What are you saying." Not a question. Just a statement, obviously saying, "You're mistaken, you idiot." But I wouldn't say that out loud, of course. Maybe. Actually, I would. But he wouldn't give me any of those funny little cheese cracker snacks any more if I did.

"You two are nice together, you see?"

I continue to stare at him, and for the first time, when someone tells me we look like a couple, or something to that effect, I don't blush or feel my heart pound really hard, or have any "OMIGAWD VINNIEHAWT" thoughts. Not that I ever had any thoughts like that. Of course. But the complete amount of nothing in response to such a comment unnerves me. Makes sense though. Kids don't fall in love with their _babysitters_.

"Vincent Valentine and I are simply allies on Sp… Cloud's silly Planet-saving mission. We are not "nice" together, nor do we have any affiliation with each other besides that of allies," I reply coldly, wincing inwardly at such a serious use of Vincent's last name coming out of my mouth. But something inside me, is telling me that I'm uber pissed, and that "Valentine" is the most impersonal way to use his name. And I don't want anyone telling me we're a pair of sickly sweet lovebirds EVER. The very thought of it disgusts me. Now that I think about it, up until now, I've been an idiot. Crushing on a guy DECADES my senior, a guy who looks like a frickin' vampire no less.

Why the heck DID I like Vincent Valentine?!

Why?

"I don't know about that, Miss Kisaragi," states the medic blandly, paying no attention to the repulsed look on my face. "At the very least, I think Mr. Valentine does care very much for you. He doesn't pay much attention to the others like he does to you. From an outsider's point of view, while he listens to Mr. Strife and the other members, he just doesn't associate with them on a personal level." He shrugs at this, face blank. "But he treats you like a friend."

NOW what am I supposed to say?!

I know what I THINK. I THINK that I don't really care right now, and that the day that Vincent Valentine straps a friendship bracelet on my wrist and drags me off to the mall for a day of shopping and gossip is the same day that hell will freeze over. The very thought of Vincent gossiping makes me more nauseous than I already am. And speaking of nausea…

"Uuughh….."

The medic shakes his head and sighs. In a lot of ways, this medic dude is a lot like a woman. Interesting.

"Lay down for now, Miss Kisaragi. We'll be arriving any minute." He leaves the room.

Thank gawd…

In exactly two minutes and seventeen seconds (not that I was counting), the airship slows to a stop, hovering over what I'm guessing to be the Materia cave. For some reason, I feel slightly nervous about possibly seeing Vincent. I don't really want to talk to him right now. I think he probably is mad at me… not that I really care at all, but having a man like that angry with you likely holds some equivalent to the death penalty..

Just outside the door, I hear hurried footsteps. They're probably letting the ladder down now…

"His PHS isn't picking up," announces a harried voice, passing by. I sit up, listening at the door intently.

"What?" replies Voice Number Two, sounding slightly anxious.

"For some reason, Mr. Valentine isn't responding to the Highwind PHS. This means the PHS is either lost or Mr. Valentine is somehow incapacitated."

Incapacitated? Vinnie? Nawww.

"Should we send someone down to check on him?"

"Well, of course!" Voice Number One turns away from the wall my door is on, and I can hear the voice shouting at various crew members positioned along the bridge entry.

Voice Number Two turns in the opposite direction, apparently speaking to a Voice Number Three.

"Are there any unusual readings from that Materia cave down there?"

"Nothing too unusual. Just a high Mako concentration."

"Are you absolutely sure? Nothing of Sephiroth or Jenova?"

"We don't currently have the capabilities to track either, sir."

"Right. So, basically, Valentine could be down there, perfectly dead, with Sephiroth hovering over his pale, still corpse, and we're sitting up here over their heads, absolutely oblivious."

"Precisely."

"Well, isn't that dandy. So, by your attitude, you are volunteering to go down there and CHECK on that, I presume?"

Ohhhhh. Buuuurrrrrned.

Someone else walks up to the pair, and a new voice joins the conversation.

"Should we pick up Mr. Strife first so he can enter the cave and retrieve Mr. Valentine?"

"No. If he's injured down there, we shouldn't waste time. So who's going to be the brave one?"

A pause.

And then…

"Is there anyone left on the ship who's part of Strife's team who can fight? I'm thinking…"

The medic's voice joins in now.

"Yuffie Kisaragi is still on board."

Great.

Just GREAT.

Vincent had to go get his ass kicked by an inanimate hunk of Materia, and now I'm going to be forced to go and drag his sorry self back up here. I bet he tripped over his own ridiculously pointy boots and impaled himself on a Master All or something stupid like that. And even though that sounds gruesome, I swear, if that's what REALLY happened, I won't even try to hold in my laughter.

Vincent Valentine, the unbreakable man, finally defeated by a Materia that isn't even an Attack type magic.

Pssh.

So that's how I end up, standing on the grassy bank of the too-pristine lake, peering and poking my way around an enormous waterfall, the sounds of the crashing water deafening to my ears. Carefully, I tiptoe past the waterfall over the slick rocks, my sneakers slipping around on their wet surfaces. My Crystal Cross nearly blends in with the cave wall as I enter it. A short passage leads down to the obvious glow of the Materia cave just beyond, and the resonance of the magic hovering in the air makes me tremble. I pause at the mouth of the main cavern, straining my ears for sounds of movement above the roar of the water at my back.

A cold place, a great cavern. The only way to tell there is a ceiling somewhere in the blackness above is the enormous crystal spires jutting down into view. And while the entire place is luminous in itself, all water and crystals and silvery-black stone, it brings a chatter to my teeth and a shiver to my bones as wispy fingers of nothing undulate up my spine.

My eyes widen as a sense of déjà vu strikes me. I feel as if I have been here before. But I can't have. Déjà vu is often like that, though.

Almost expectantly, I find Vincent gathered in a pile of crimson cloak and bestial mane, arranged fitfully at the side of the cavern lake. If I wanted to express my feeling at that moment, I would probably shrug. Looking down at his unconscious form prompts a whole lot of eerie nothing.

A surge of magic wavers in the air and my head snaps up, looking around. An echo seems to claw its way around the cavern, prying my ears wide open and prizing apart the crevices of my mind. Tears spring to my eyes as a huge, unexplainable disturbance rides upon that echo, piercing my body full of ache, and my eyes settle on the largest crystal structure in sight, stabbed through the lake as if it were a knife in a body, slowly bleeding to death.

_"Chaos. Corruption. Crisis."_

A body is encased in that impure crystal, like hands and blood upon the hilt of that murdering blade. "Who are you?!" I call across the lake, my ears ringing with unprovoked vertigo and pressure. Unconsciously, I get down to the shining floor and gather Vincent up in my arms as if trying to gather quicksilver or candies burst out of a freshly broken pinata.

_"My name is Lucrecia Crescent."_

Without warning, the tears I can't explain flow freshly down my cheeks. What the hell is wrong with me? This place feels like a mental apple press, and not only can the apparently dead body in the giant crystal casket jutting out of the water talk, but she's saying that her name is _Lucrecia._ And the only Lucrecia I personally know of is…. well, Vincent's dead girl. Could it be? Not that I care at all. I really don't.

And with that reminder, something clears out of my head, retreating in a way I can only describe as meek.

Feeling the relief of the pressure from my head, I bring my eyes up to the corpse again. Like Vincent, she doesn't appear a day over twenty-seven, perhaps. Overall, she looks like Aeris. I take a deep, shuddering breath at this revelation.

I need to get out of here.

Suddenly weary, I heave Vincent's flesh arm up around my neck and lift him to his feet. He slumps over like a dead man, his full height of six feet draping itself off me like a morbid necklace or something. I wonder why he passed out. In fact, now that I think about it, I didn't even check to see if he's still even alive. And, surprisingly, I don't feel much at this possibility. Deciding to deal with that OUTSIDE Lucrecia's creepy cave, I hold Vincent's disturbingly light weight by the wrist with my left hand and reach back for the weapon he'd brought with my right.

Now that I think about it, I don't think he had this before.

Rifle, insanely long, and it might just be heavier than _him._

Feeling a very strong urge to leave, I drag Vincent and his mysterious rifle from the cave as fast as my legs will take us.

At last we reach the grassy bank, deceptively picturesque. I dump my burden unceremoniously out onto the thick grass, tossing his weapon down next to him. The rifle seems to almost hiss at me, sinister and snakelike. I scowl at it.

"Shut up," I say to no one.

If he was dead, I don't think I'd be able to tell just by looking at him.

But it seems I won't have to.

He gasps sickeningly and rolls over onto his side, facing away from me, cringing into a ball as I stare, unsure of what to do. As he starts to convulse violently, I impulsively reach out to him from behind and smooth his hair away from his cheek, the pale skin slightly clammy under my fingertips. Absently, I realize this as a moment of rare and intense vulnerability for him, but it doesn't shock or thrill me as it would have once.

Well, at least he's alive.

"Vincent," I prod as his twitching dies down.

He screams.

"Vincent," I continue, gripping his shoulders tightly. "If you're going to get worse with this, you're going to fall in the freaking lake. Get a hold of yourself, would ya?" I cringe inwardly at the detachment of my words, but it doesn't feel out of place. I don't know. Something's changed. I don't want to be part of this any more. I want to get off this ride. This ride doesn't want me on it.

Later, I find myself staring blankly at the ceiling of the Highwind's Chocobo stall, my body surrounded in scratchy straw and dusty bedding. I don't know why I came here after I dragged Vincent's spasming body back onto the ship, but it seemed inviting in its bright and yellow hues with light pouring from the doorway. I don't feel like myself today, and you could probably tell that. I should be mega pissed at Sp- Cloud and everyone. But I'm not, really. Just suddenly serious and focused on getting out of here. Getting out of the cave. Getting out of this airship. Getting out of this crazy quest to save the world. Getting back to my life. Getting back to my coot of a dad, my cats, my house, and huge mugs full of tea in the mornings. Getting away from fighting, at least for a little while. Getting away from people.

That sort of life feels like it would be really good right now. Totally not what you'd expect from me, I know. But I'm really, really tired of being here.

Maybe I'm a little homesick?

I wonder who that woman in the cave really is.

_"My name is Lucrecia Crescent."_

Memories of a time when Vincent once told me about the woman named Lucrecia pour into my head, unbidden.

_"Lucrecia was as beautiful as she was talented."_

She sounds annoying, in my opinion.

"_After I found Lucrecia's corpse, I headed down to the basement of the Mansion where the laboratory was located." _

And look what happened to you then. Sounds like she was cursed to me.

Actually, wouldn't you look at me? Don't know a thing about this lady except that she was a scientist, and, if she's the mysterious corpse back in the cave, she's creepily Aeris-like, really. And here I am, thinking like a jealous little brat. No wonder they all think I'm just a immature kid.

"Hey."

A weight plops down into the straw next to me. I look over to meet Cloud's eyes, blue, and yet duller than usual. He looks weathered and tired. Even though he's insulted me, I feel a pang of sympathy for him. Funny how that is. Vincent hasn't said anything to hurt my pride like Cloud has, and yet I don't think I could feel sorry for him if I tried. Even when he was gasping and spasming like a fish out of water. Yet, here I am, with an exhausted-looking Cloud, and I feel sorry for him.

"How did the scouting go?" I ask dully, looking back up at the ceiling. Beside me, Cloud sighs, and I feel the straw rustle as he lifts his hands to run them through his hair. (How he does that while avoiding injury is beyond me.)

"We found a few things, if that's what you're wondering."

Well, duh…

"A mysterious key and a Weapon."

"What?"

"Emerald Weapon, we think. The Underwater Weapon. We didn't engage it in battle yet. The key seems to be an Ancient relic. We're going to Cosmo Canyon to have it examined by Bugenhagen."

Somehow, I forget about the earlier events between us and turn my eyes back onto Cloud's face attentively.

"What about Sephiroth?"

He meets my eyes with his tired ones, and I feel a new pang of sympathy for him. "Nothing," he sighs, a hopeless tone in his voice. "He's up there, surely. Somewhere in that Crater. But we can't get to him yet. The only thing we have to build on is Aeris' prayer to the Planet. Therefore, the best starting point is with the Ancients. The key is probably a good find if it means anything."

I nod in agreement. "Hey… Cloud?"

"Yeah?"

"Get some sleep, would ya?"

He smiles. "Yeah. I will. Thanks, Yuffie. Sorry about earlier."

I grin back, and some of the weight lifts from my chest. It almost feels like I've gotten a friend back. Nice feeling.

"Me too. Is Vincent alive yet?"

He quirks an eyebrow at me. "Well, he wasn't really dead to begin with…. but we can't figure out what was wrong in the first place. He doesn't appear to have Mako-induced symptoms. He was just trembling and jerking like a mad person when you brought him back, apparently. The medic was really afraid to do anything except some restorative magic. But that didn't help because he's uninjured. Eventually, he fell into a coma-like state, and so now he's sleeping like that."

"Ah," I mutter, my throat suddenly dry. Everything is happening so fast now. Things are changing really quickly. Somehow, I can sense that we're reaching an end of sorts.

We lay there in the straw, silent, for several minutes as the machinery whirrs around us in the walls. Cloud's probably drifted off by now. I look over. Nope. Eyes still open.

"Seriously, Cloud. You should go to sleep. If the world ends while you're out, then consider yourself lucky."

His mouth twitches in a smile. "I actually don't feel too tired, I guess. All this adrenaline and action is keeping me awake. I know you slept earlier, though. The medic was concerned because you passed out. Any ideas on that?"

I sit up and scowl at him. "I don't remember giving you permission to change the subject, you…. you…. subject-changer. Okay, that was lame. But it wasn't a big deal. I was probably just really exhausted, like you should be. And look like. You have huge circles under your eyes. Tifa'll never fall for you if you keep this up."

Annoyance flits across Cloud's face. "Tifa and I are only friends, Yuffie, and it's going to stay that way. I think some fresh air would be good for the both of us. Want to go on the deck?"

"See? There you go again, you subject changing… Aaargh, I still can't think of anything to put there. Dammit. Fine, let's go." I get to my feet and offer a hand to Cloud, which he takes. Ahahaha. Together, we walk out onto the deck where the wind presses cool against our faces. I look over to see Nanaki resting against the wall, and I smile. In the distance, the golden line of the horizon glows with the dawn, and I look out at it, still smiling, because Cloud is there, and it feels good when we're friends. I never thought of it before since we don't talk much. But it feels good.

I'm such a sap, muwahahaha!

"Vincent was really out of it," Cloud randomly remarks, leaning forward to rest his forearms on the railing. I drape my own arms over it, gripping one of the bars tightly in my fists. We both stare out at the rising sun, and I note the beauty of it. Usually, I'm fast asleep at this hour. Way too early for me. But maybe I should start making time for this now and then.

"He looked like he'd gone the rest of the way into insanity," I reply. Vincent seems like a distant subject now. I can't explain it.

"He kept saying your name," he said immediately, almost seeming to fire his words back at me. "He was twitching and moaning, and when he'd open his eyes, they'd be always empty, firey, wide, and swirling with murder. But at times, he'd say your name, and it was normal, without much emotion, like he normally speaks. It was the creepiest thing to watch. He'd be spasming one moment, then the next, he'd lie there, still, looking lucid as ever, he'd say your name once, then start spasming again."

"That really is creepy," I comment. That REALLY is creepy.

"I hope the worst of it's over," he adds thoughtfully. "Though I think that he might have been concerned about what happened to you, considering it all. When you went into the cave, was he unconscious?"

"I don't really know," I say truthfully, still staring out at the scenery. "I thought he was, but he starting having those bouts after we left the cave. He might have been aware of what was happening, I don't know." The relief from airsickness brought by the darkness of night begins to lift slightly with the light of the dawn, and my stomach shifts slightly. Hoo boy.

"What was in the cave?"

I struggle to remember it all. "The cave was covered in crystal spires, and there was a lake in the cave. In the middle of the lake, there was this little crystallized island with a really great huge crystal jutting out it. And inside the crystal, there was a person. A woman. She said her name was Lucrecia. But she looked like she was dead. It was almost like the walls were resonating in her voice. There was a lot of power in there, but it wasn't pure, like the power you feel in normal Materia caves. It was something malicious, and oddly enough, I can really only describe it as blinding. Not oppressive. But finely painful, like a bad headache. Vincent was piled up on the lake's bank, and he appeared to be unconscious, so I lifted him and took him out of the cave. He also had a weapon I didn't really recognize with him."

Cloud nods. "That rifle he brought back is a lot like something the sub group brought back with them today. I actually wonder if you know what it is, seeing as it looks like a weapon you'd use. The odd thing about both this weapon and Vincent's rifle is that they both have an enormous number of slots for Materia. And yet, they aren't slots that you can grow Materia in."

I raise my eyebrows. "Really?" I question. "There aren't many things like that at all. Especially with a lot of slots."

Cloud shifts slightly into a more comfortable position against the railing. "I thought so," he says. "I think you'd better look at it sometime. It might be good to use, so you should try it, too."

"You found it in a sunken plane," I remark dryly. "It's probably something weird that the Shinra military thought up one day. It's also probably dull and rusted by now, right?"

"Actually, no." He straightens up and beckons me to follow him. "Let's go find it so you can see."

I follow him to the bridge where he ducks behind a control panel and drags out a huge, rotted chest. I wrinkle my nose at it, the sweetish smell of the rot filling my nostrils. He opens the chest unceremoniously, and I peer inside, expecting a lump of dull metal with rust on it.

But, no.

Oh, no. No, no, no.

Burgundy and gold, an elegant wheel-like flower with slender, contoured petals along its rim. The metal catches the light and it shines merrily as I reach out with a trembling hand to brush my fingers against the cool metal of the handling. Sure enough, the shallow Zero Growth Materia slots line the center bars. But they aren't there because of cheapness, I can tell. Whoever uses this needs to be powerful enough to use Master Materia. I run my finger along the outer curve of the beautiful shuriken, and a clean line of my blood streaks the luminous blade.

"Cloud," I say suddenly, excitement in my voice. "What IS this?" I look back at the blade to see my blood bead on its surface and drip off, as though the weapon had repelled it. It twinkles back at me innocently in the white overhead lights of the bridge.

"I was actually hoping you could tell me."

I just shrug, captivated by the magnificent shuriken in my hands.

Seven A.M., and we reach the Canyon. We transfer Vincent to a clinic where medics bustle around, stuffing sheets around him and taking his temperature. Useless… If there's something wrong with him, it's in his head. Especially after coming out of Lucrecia's sparkly bat-cave. I eye the smooth, white staff in Cloud's hand. It has the shape of a key with a spiked handle, and it's big enough to be one of those keys to the city they always present to a mayor at inauguration. Ivory smooth; it looks like bone. A mysterious string of words written in a language I don't know spirals up its length. We climb the ladder up to Bugenhagen's observatory in silence, Cloud first, then Nanaki, then Barret, then Cid, and finally, me. Tifa and Cait walk off in silence to restock supplies. For the first time, I formally meet Nanaki's grandfather. He's sort of weird in that he glides through the air somehow, and he dresses in that hippie style that used to be so popular among the Easterners of the Continent back during the Wutai War. He talks in this manner that implies that he has a lot of knowledge. He probably does. The two of us talk a little about Wutai for a while as Cloud washes the key in a back room. He nearly chokes when I tell him my full name. "It's an honor, Princess Kisaragi," he says with a bit of grandeur in his voice. I shake my head impatiently. "It's just Yuffie," I insist. "If you must use a title, you can use 'High Materia Ninja Master Yuffie'. 'Princess' is seriously lame since I don't even get to do anything." High Materia Ninja Master…. That's a new one. It makes it sort of sound like I'm getting high off Materia… which actually isn't completely wrong, but it's a good sort of high, I promise! Hyahahaha…

A couple hours later, we're back on the Highwind, speeding off towards the City of the Ancients. I curl myself up against a stack of crates in the hallway and beg for sleep to take me away from the airsickness.

But we all know that Yuffie only gets this sort of relief in fairytales, right?

"Yuffie," says a voice somewhere to my left, hoarse from disuse, or perhaps from screaming. I pry my eyes open slightly as a fresh wave of sickness rams into me, causing me to cringe and my bowels to constrict. I groan and peer over my shoulder at Vincent.

"Whuddya want, Vincent?" I grunt, not daring to move any more than I have to. Aaaargh, airsickness is so grossness… A suspicious rattling noise comes from the direction of Vincent's pocket as he walks nearer. My eyes scan over the bony lines of his face, the slightly sunken cheeks, the darkness under his eyes… He looks like a prisoner with his black hair, wilder than ever, whirling around that dead-looking face like thorns. Only his eyes convince me otherwise, glowing like embers, even in the brightness of the ship's hall.

"Take this," he says wearily, stooping down to balance on the balls of his feet. He holds out a bottle of pills, the same ones from the Mideel nurse that I took to cure the airsickness once. Hastily, I choke them down dry, desperate for relief. Even under Vincent's creepy eye, I smile slightly as the pressure lifts from my stomach and my head.

"Thank you." I nod gratefully at him, unsure of what to say next. We stand up together, eyes locked the entire time. Tension, goddamit! TENSION!!!! AHHHHH! It'd be really perfect to say something like, "Your underwear is showing" right now, but I can't. Gah. Snap out of it, Yuffie. I smirk slyly.

"Your underwear is showing, Vincent."

HAHAHA. I PREVAIL.

And I'm starting to feel like my old self again. Yay? Yay. Bet it was the drugs.

He just stares at me with those glowing, red eyes. I stare back. It takes two to tango, mister…

And yet, I can't bring myself to call him anything else other than "Vincent" right now. Inner turmoil!!! Drama!! Omigawd!

C'mon, Yuffie…. Yoo hoo.. I know you're in there somewhere…

"I'm sorry, Yuffie."

My eyes snap back onto his again, and I blink. "What?"

"It must have been difficult to you to get me back to the ship earlier."

I stare. I blink again. I scowl.

"Who was that woman in the cave, Vincent?" I interrogate, disregarding his apology completely. My scowl deepens as I survey him contemplating his answer, a moment of panic passing behind his eyes.

"A dead person," he finally chooses to say, his voice strained.

"Obviously. You know, Vincent, she talked to me. She told me her name. It sounded sort of familiar."

Busted…

"I…" he starts, and he looks away from me. If I didn't know any better, I'd say that he's on the verge of crying. A thousand emotions burst from the cracks in his anti-emotional mental dam and converge into a clouded blur in the red glow of his eyes.

**You go too far, insolent one.**

Jagged claws tear at me mercilessly, and I can't even tell where it hurts before I collapse.

* * *

Author's Note: Worst chapter EVER!! Ahhhh, it makes me want to slam my head against the wall! You can almost FEEL the hormones. It's sick. This is what I get for not knowing exactly what to write about and then writing bits of it here and there over a two to three months span. I think you can tell what was happening to me during certain parts of the chapter. Intense studying for chemistry test here, oops, she failed a precalculus test there.. What a mishmash of crap. Hyargh. And, just now, it was "oops, she doesn't act like Yuffie any more…. Better do something about that…" Ha… ha.. this is definitely one of those, "throw out and rewrite after story completion" chapters…. Pity it's so long.

I'm so nervous about college! I hope I get into the one I applied early for.


	17. Force Your Way

The Materia Hunter—Seventeenth Chapter: Force Your Way

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Author's Note: My most sincere apologies to those who have waited and those who have contacted me regarding this story. I am leaving for college in a little less than a month—so I hope to finish this by then. Unfortunately, I have no plans to continue this in a series as I have mentioned in the past. I am afraid I would be unable to keep up with it, as I have had trouble up keeping this four-year project. Please forgive me.

This is the longest span I have ever worked on a single chapter, as this chapter has been open for about ten months! I am pretty sure that it isn't very good since I have all but completely left the Final Fantasy VII fandom. But I do owe it to you to complete this story, so I will somehow.

* * *

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VII.

* * *

A sticky, plasticky smell smothers my face, sort of like if I was wearing a stuffy costume mask. Voices drone in and out of my muffled ears, or are the voices themselves muffled? I strain to hear.

"Vin….cent?"

"Oh no, she—"

Someone's voice…

I wake with a start.

"Yuffie!" exclaims someone on my left side. I turn my head groggily, squinting in the light.

"Hey, Tifa…"

"Yuffie," she repeats, standing up from the upholstered chair she had been sitting in. She must have taken it from the meeting room… I try to move into a different position, but stop when a jolt of pain shoots up my torso.

"Owch!"

"Don't move too much, you'll reopen the wounds," Tifa says gently as she hurries to my side. "You got some pretty nasty gashes across your chest. Luckily, your ribs are okay, but the flesh was pretty torn up. Not a really awful thing, but it probably hurts a lot…"

What happened to me?

All I can remember is Vincent, and then—

**You go too far, insolent one.**

And then claws and pain and now here I am lying in a bed, out of commission. Again. Gawd, this sorta thing seems to happen a lot lately.. Totally unfair. I don't even get to go out and fight a lot, and yet I seem to get sick/injured/messed up more than everyone else. Except for maybe Spike… but he's just mental, really…

"What happened?"

Tifa's face darkens. "Vincent transformed and attacked you. It took all of us to take him down. Luckily, when he attacked you, the whole commotion attracted the rest of us quick enough to make sure he didn't hurt you too badly. But it was something odd.. It was definitely a transformation, but there were parts of him that were still pretty human. But that creature seemed more vicious than any transformation he's had before. We injured Vincent pretty badly, but he's already up and about, oddly."

"Where is he?" I ask. He caused the damage here.. He should be waiting by my sickbed instead of Tifa, right? Hmph.

"Probably on the bridge with the others," she replies, busying herself with a water bottle. She hands me a cup full, and I drink it down greedily, only now realizing how thirsty I am.

"Thanks… How long has it been?"

She nods at me and takes the empty cup from me. "Not too long," she answers. "Only a couple hours. We're heading towards the City of The Ancients. There seems to be something important about that key we found underwater."

I wonder what that's really going to get us in the end. We really don't seem to be making any progress. On top of that, Vincent randomly transformed into a monster and attacked me. Not only does that mean that he's potentially dangerous to all of us, that also means that he's going to be all nasty and depressing and avoidant for a while, convinced that staying away from everyone is somehow noble and that it would actually somehow help the whole situation. Ha. Yeah right. Make it worse, vampire-boy. I dare you. I don't want to admit it, but the fact that he attacked me… maybe puts a little reason for him to avoid everyone. Don't get me wrong, I still think it's a bad idea. Probably would make him more susceptible to transformations or something. But it scares me...

"I'm going to cast Cure on you one more time to close all the skin and completely heal the wounds, okay Yuffie?" A green Restore Materia glitters in Tifa's bracelet. I nod and keep my eyes fixed on the glowing magic of the Materia until it fades and all the pain is gone.

"Thanks a lot, Tifa." I flash a quick grin at Tifa before heaving myself out of the bed.

"I think Vincent wants to be left alone for a while," Tifa remarks as I start towards the door.

"Don't care." I shrug, nonchalant, and leave without another word.

As I walk towards the door to the bridge, I hear raised voices from within. Being a ninja and sneaky and devious and curious, I press my ear to the crack between the door and the wall. Surreptitiously, of course.

"You do not understand." Vincent.

"I think you're the one who doesn't understand." Cloud.

"You are fine with Chaos nearly ripping Yuffie in two? Because I am not. You have no power over me, Cloud. You will allow my leave." Vincent.

"I haven't left! And Sephiroth frickin' takes over my body half the time! I'm still here because I want to end it, want to fight. Aren't there reasons you're here, Vincent? I will not allow you to leave. That would be a mistake."

Vincent wants to leave…? Because of me?

"Why is it that you think you can't be helpful, Vincent?" continues Cloud. Footsteps, and his voice grows fainter as he walks away from my vantage point. I strain to hear. "Make up for things, repent for your sins properly by helping our cause. If you go, you'll just waste away in that coffin, everything you've ever worked at going straight down the drain. If you care about any of us at all, if you want to honor Aeris, prot—"

Damn. I can't hear them any more.

"I know that there's-- … can't…. longer… miss… love—"

Vincent? Love? Musta heard that one wrong, or you are more messed up than I thought, Spike. Unless he's talking about Lucrecia. Bleh.

"You are mistaken," says Vincent's voice, low and matter-of-factly. His shoes clang across the floor, away from me and towards Spike, presumably. "There is nothing between Yuffie and myself."

CRASH.

My jaw fell so low that it hit the door handle and sent me falling face first onto the bridge. …… Fine, so I was being neglectful of my sneakiness and accidentally leaned on it. But I'm still the best. Really. Even with my nose pressed flat against the steel floor, I AM THE BEST BECAUSE I AM A SUPER NINJA AND I AM INVISIBLE!

"Yuffie?"

Damn.

Things to do #1: Learn how to become invisible.

"Owww…" I grumble, sitting up, my eyes shifting around guiltily. "I wasn't eavesdropping."

"Yuffie…" says Spike in a dangerous voice. Your flashy eye trick doesn't scare ME, Mako-boy! I, the stunningly MOREFLASHYTHANTHOU Ninja Princess of Wutai can overthrow your cheap tactics any day!

I look up.

Heh. Heh heh. Eh heheehehehehee….. I think I'm gonna go crawl into a hole and die now. I've just been skewered by Vincent and Cloud's Dual Threatening Eye Beam Attack.

"What were you doing out there, listening in, Yuffie?"

I screw up my courage and face Cloud directly in the eye, scowling. Eep. No! I haven't done anything wrong! This is unjustified ASSAULT ON YUFFIE'S SOUL.

"I was looking for Vincent. Quit glaring, wouldya? Tifa told me when I got up that he was on the bridge. And shouldn't you be all 'oh, Yuffie, I'm so glad you're finally awake! I was so worried!' and mush like that right now? Sheesh, way to kick an injured person when they're down. I come looking for Vincent and I get impaled by two simultaneous Glares of Impending Doom. Way to welcome me back, jerks. I'm gonna leave now."

Ha. I WIN.

I turn my back on them and stalk back out the door huffily, slamming it shut behind me. Traitorous door.

As I step away, I hear Vincent say, "You see, she dislikes me."

And Cloud replies, "Oh, she always hates me, but we get along just fine."

Way to comfort him, Mako-jerk. You know he totally wants me. Crush his hopes and kick him out of the group by making it seem like Yuffie-wrath isn't such a bad thing. You haven't seen NOTHIN' yet, Spike-butt!

And with that thought, I fall straight back onto my butt when the airship suddenly LANDS. Not lands. LANDS. Plop. Fell outta the sky, really. Man, Cid's gonna be pissed.

"WHO THE #&(#'S DRIVIN' THIS GODDAMN SHIP!! GET OUTTA THE (#&#IN' COCKPIT, &#(&IN' MORON!"

Like I said.

The City of The Ancients hasn't changed. Not even the red rays of Meteor really reach this place. The trees make sure of that. Instead, everything is as luminous as ever, a cold, unfeeling blue, devoid of life in the chilling beauty of the ghost city. Silent as a tomb. Still as a stone. I shiver as we disembark, Nanaki's grandfather hovering alongside us.

"It could be a key to anything," Cloud points out, holding up a large spiky key which looks like it was carved out of a large bone. (Hey, Cloud, it looks like YOUR HEAD.) "A door, a machine of some sort, a box… I think that we would have noticed a keyhole this large before, though. Can anyone think of anything that we saw when we were here last that would take a key like this?"

How are we supposed to remember stuff like that? That was a long time ago!

"There was a music box," starts Tifa suddenly, her eyes wide in revelation. "A really big music box in some sort of theatre tucked behind a huge brown stone wall. We would have missed the entrance entirely if we hadn't been searching for Aeris at the time. But there was a theater in there, and a music box with a huge keyhole."

Well, obviously Tifa remembers… Sheesh.

We make our way to the theater in silence, to accompany the silence of the city. Not even a bird chirps. I don't think there are any cute little wild forest animals living here at all. How sad.

Sure enough, the key fits the music box. Immediately, a column of water falls out of the sky and encloses the stone platform in the center of the theater. Only momentarily surprised, we run towards the bridge leading out towards the platform. Man, I hope that column of water is hollow…

I hold my breath and screw my eyes shut as I hurl myself at the wall of water, expecting the cold weight to throw itself on me. But it doesn't. I open my eyes, wondering if I've actually gotten anywhere at all, and I find myself in a glowing room created by the water which somehow isn't really water and the platform. Vincent appears behind me, and the others gather around, Cloud at the front. Bugenhagen floats up to the wall and exclaims, "An image is being projected onto the water!"

My eyes widen and my hand claps to my mouth as the huge image of Aeris falls, in slow motion, toward the stone floor of the Forgotten Capital. The image then focuses in on… her hair? Confused, my hand slowly lowers from my mouth as we watch something clear, yet faintly green fall from her pink ribbon to the floor, bouncing away, completely unnoticed by Sephiroth. But even as she dies, I see it for just the tiniest moment. Aeris' eye flickers toward the little orb and crinkles very slightly in the last attempt at a small smile before she hits the ground at last. I stare as the orb bounces down the steps and drops into the water below. And I watch as it drifts to the bottom gently, glowing a very prominent green.

"It's glowing pale green!" Bugenhagen gestures towards the image wildly, his wide purple sleeve flying all about. No shit, Sherlock…

A hiccup interrupts my thoughts, and I look over. Tears drip from Tifa's face as Cloud puts and arm around her, patting her on the back, pain etched across his face as well. Must be really tough for them to see this scene play out again… I think I've almost gotten over it. At least enough to be able to watch this and be alright.. It's not like we watched her being stabbed. But the whole feeling is painful now.

"Why did the Materia glow like that?" asks Vincent over Tifa's quiet sobbing. Geez. Awfully rude of him.

"The White Materia responds to crisis by glowing a pale green. Aeris' prayer reached the Materia, or Holy, as it is known, and activated it. Only one of the Cetra can activate Holy, so she knew what she had to do. Therefore, Holy will act according to Aeris' prayers. In this, Aeris represents the wishes of humankind. Seeing how it glowed tells me that it should react. However, is Aeris' prayer truly strong enough to support Holy's power when the time comes? It is a battle between a last minute plead to the Planet from Aeris and years of scheming and bitterness from Sephiroth. Even if the purity of Aeris' prayer can halt this overwhelming malice, will it be enough to hurl Meteor back from where it came? I suppose we will find out in time… The Planet will do what is best, whether it destroys us or saves us. I can't figure out one thing, though. Why has Holy not moved yet? At this distance, Holy would have more time to banish Meteor. But something is preventing it from moving. Though I am unsure, I believe that Sephiroth is somehow stifling Holy. Therefore, if you can take down Sephiroth, Holy will be able to move."

With this little comfort, we leave again in silence, heavy with the knowledge of what we must do. But now, there's a real reason. Before, we'd only hoped that defeating Sephiroth would somehow fix things. But now, we know that defeating him will have a good chance of fixing things—and that there won't be more obstacles appearing when we've run out of time.

We reach the Highwind just as evening begins to fall. Spike calls a meeting after we have a dinner of eggs and canned chicken salad on toast. Even though we're adventurers, we really don't eat all that bad. Some of our meals seem a little odd, but after a long day, everyone seems to want protein. We eat a lot of eggs because they're cheaper than meat and more readily available. If we decide on meat, sometimes we go out and kill something because finding a store and buying enough for everyone would take a lot of time and be expensive. (Doesn't always taste very nice, though.) Canned beans are common, too, and canned meats. So the eggs and chicken salad is pretty standard for us.

"We're stuck," Spike announces as soon as everyone has settled in the meeting room. "We know what we need to do. We need to kill Sephiroth. However, there's no way to get to him. He's up in the Crater within a barrier we can't penetrate. It really seems like he's always one step ahead of us… Other than that, he's a menace. Even if we could get to him, he would be no pushover to defeat, especially in the giant swell of Mako that the Crater is. Besides that, he also has Jenova down there. If you thought that her arms were difficult to kill, he has her head. These are my concerns. All of this on top of the fact that we are quickly running out of time. There are only a few days until impact is certain to occur, and unless we can get Holy moving by then, the Planet is done for. I'll dismiss you all now, but I want you all to think very hard on this. If you can think of any way by which we can get into the Crater or prepare ourselves for the battle, don't hesitate to come to me. We need to form a strong plan within a matter of hours."

I head out onto the deck. It feels weird being out here and not having the wind blowing you sideways or being able to look down and see clouds. The night is mysteriously warm for the time of year and our vicinity to the northern mountains. I sit down against the railing and stare at my sneakers. You know, it's sort of scary to know that your situation is next to impossible and that you could really die in a few days. It's also scary to know that only you and a couple friends are the only people actually aware of and trying to do something. You and a giant company probably bent on eventually destroying the world anyway, probably. They're the ones who really started this whole mess.

"Yuffie."

Oh gawd.

"Hey Vincent," I greet, nonchalant. "What's up?" I don't look up at him. I think he understands. A lot of things have happened lately to put us on not-so-good terms.

His hand nears my waist, and I flinch. Almost, I can see him wince. I look over to see that he's set a cup of something next to me on the floor.

"Tifa made you some tea. She told me to bring it to you." I can hear him turn away from me, and only then can I look up at him. I stare at the back of his head moving away from me.

"Vincent, wait a sec."

He turns his head to the side, but looks at the floor instead of at me. "What?" he says, automatically. There's only a question mark there because I'm pretty sure that he meant it as a question, but it was more of a reply than a genuine wondering. When someone stops you, you say "What?" because if you just walked away, they would think that you hated them. But saying it doesn't mean you care. Saying it means that you're telling them that you're donating a moment of time to them to let them throw some words at you before you walk away. If you really cared, you'd walk back over and say, "What is it? Is there something wrong?" or "Hey, what's the matter?".

"Come over here." I'm going to make it look like he cares. He stands beside my sitting form, looking down at me with a dark red stare, veiled by long, lowered eyelashes. Vincent is really far too pretty to be real.

"What?" he says again. I glare at him.

"Vincent, you should stay with us."

For a moment he only stares down at me, completely still. He's probably thinking about something, but I dunno. He could have fallen asleep standing up, too.

"I could have killed you."

I smirk. "Seriously, you should know by now that I'm actually immortal because I'm a goddess. A ninja goddess of love and beauty. I'm really very insulted that you didn't recognize me and immediately grovel at me feet. In any case, you definitely can't kill me. So don't worry about that. Don't you want to stay, anyhow?"

"No."

"Why?"

"When I am awake, I destroy things. When I am dormant, I cannot do harm."

I make a face at him. "You lazy butt, Vincent Valentine. You just want to go back to bed and not have to wake up. I know it. You want to neglect me. Well, I'm not going to let you ignore me. I'm a goddess, so I'm demanding that you worship me, got it?

"….."

I slurp at my tea ferociously, glaring at him over the rim of the cup. Without even blinking, I put the cup back down and wipe my mouth vigorously with the back of my hand.

"Hey." I tug at his cape. "What's up?"

See, now THAT is how you display that you care. Nyahaha.

He tilts his head very slightly at me. "Thank you for your help," he says slowly.

What the fidget? Inner Yuffie speaking here!

"What the fidget?" Outer Yuffie speaking here! (obviously they're not all that different.)

"For the help," he repeats. "Rescuing me from Lucrecia's cave."

I smirk. "Yeah, well, you owe me. Hey, I got a new shuriken. I can't wait to try it. It's pretty dangerous. Also, did you get a new gun?"

He nods slightly.

"Oh, okay."

"Hey, Vinnie?"

"What is it?" (Hey, yeah, that's more like it! I think we're starting to get somewhere! Hehe.)

"Friends?"

It takes him a moment, but…

"Sure."

Awww. THERE'S one for all those crazed fangirls who are going to definitely write scandalous fanfiction about me and Vinnie after we save the Planet and become famous! I'll be sure to mention it in an interview sometime so that it's out there. Muwahaha. Every teeny detail of our juicy and romantic affair. Plus some that aren't true, just to throw people off. For example…. "Once, me and Vinnie went skinny-dipping, and Vinnie nearly got sterilized by a juvenile Adamantoise." (The fact that Adamantoises don't have teeth doesn't really matter. Get creative. They have claws.) Maybe I'LL make a pen name on some huge fanfiction database online and actually write that story. (and totally get clobbered by Vinnie when he finds out, but it might be fun to try writing something retarded like that…)

Hell, maybe I'll write something dumb like a Yuffie and Vincent romantic love comedy describing this entire journey!

……..

Nah. That'd be stupid.

"Yuffie?"

I jump slightly, nearly upsetting the tea. "Huh? Wha?"

"You're using that nickname again."

"Hey, you're right.. Vinnie. HA."

And then the ground starts to rumble…… I rescue my tea before it falls off the deck.

"What's going on??"

"Don't move." Vinnie grabs the rail and turns his eyes out into the distance. "Something is there."

"Cloud!! Tifa!!" I shout as they come running as fast as they can out towards us. "What's happening?!"

"Radar detected a Weapon at three miles south! It's heading across the ocean, and unless it changes path, it'll run straight into Midgar!" Blue Mako eyes pierce the darkness ahead before turning onto me. "Get inside, both of you! We're going to try and outrun the Weapon and face off at Midgar when it arrives! Prepare for battle, get your weapons ready and make sure that you're in fighting condition. Pack what items you need and meet on the bridge in five!"

We all run back into the ship just as it takes off with a lurch and a blast of fire. Oooh, Cid's using the JETS. Gah. NOT helping my little problem, old man… I crash into the cabin and grab the first weapon of mine I see—that new one Spike gave me earlier. Strapping it hastily to my back, I also clip a pouch of Materia and a few items to a strap on my leg. Last, but definitely not least, I drag a small trunk out from under my cot. I lift the lid and pick out several Materia. This shuriken has a lot of slots… Good thing I'm an expert at this whole Materia setup thing. (I do spend hours fantasizing about which combos would be the most powerful and the coolest, ya know.) I check to make sure that my bracer has the right stuff in it as I run towards the bridge.

"We're going to attempt to ambush the Weapon. It has been identified as Diamond Weapon, and it seems to be targeting Midgar—"

"Hey!!" Cait Sith interrupts, foreign noise emitting from his megaphone. "I think I know why it's going after Midgar! Shinra has moved the Mako Cannon, Sister Ray, to Midgar! They must have connected it up with the eight reactors and are preparing some sort of attack! My guess is that they're going to try and destroy Sephiroth with it."

"Then we'd better get going."

We reach Midgar in record time, but as we leap from the hatch, the Weapon heads straight for us, emerging from the ocean, water, flowing in waves from its enormous shoulders. How are we supposed to fight something so HUGE?! It's even bigger than Ultima Weapon! No frickin' way… This is way too freaky.

"Vinnie, that thing could probably smush me if one of its SCALES came off and fell on me."

Calm as a clam, he replies, "Well, then we should hope that his scales are firmly attached."

Whoa, he just made a joke. Not every day you hear Vinnie cracking jokes. Hear that, my fangirl legions? Vinnie and I are totally meant to be because he makes jokes with me.

Immediately, I cast Regen All on everyone as we run towards the Weapon. The air compresses as it roars, and my eyes water, the insides of my ears positively rippling. We reach Diamond Weapon too quickly, just in time for me to cast Haste All. If we're going to hope to dodge anything from one of those massive limbs, gotta get quick. Almost on cue, Cid leaps back double speed from a crushing swing of one of its enormous claws. You owe me too, old man… Never use those jets again, promise me.

I use the next opportunity I get to cast Wall after watching Tifa nearly get burnt to a crisp with a strong Flare-like attack. But this thing is so huge… Physical attacks won't do a thing, and I can tell this. Its armor is like metal, and its size makes our weapons like pins to it. I say we use magic…

"Comet 2!" (Me.)

"Ultima!" (whoa, I want that. That was Spike, by the way.)

"Alexander!" (Nanaki.)

"Break!" (Cid.)

"Neo Bahamut!" (Vinnie. And, seriously. Dude. Give ME one of them Bahamuts.)

"Aqualung!" (Barret.)

"Kujata!" (Tifa.)

"Hades!" (Cait.)

Even after all of that, it won't go down! I replenish the Wall as the Weapon's chest plate opens to reveal a huge pit. Blue-white energy begins to collect there as we stare in horror. I wonder…

I tear my weapon from the binding on my back and hurl it as hard as I can at the open chest of the Weapon. The air whistles and we all watch as it hurtles towards the opening, hoping…

Again, my eyeballs press into their sockets and my ears threaten to shatter as the Weapon shrieks loud enough for the entire Planet to hear. Barely, I catch my weapon as it sails back, dark, sticky blood flowing off of it in torrents to leave it as shining as it had been when I received it. And then, pain. I fall. Vaguely, I can feel my body being pushed further into the ground, bursts of fire erupting on my skin, and I scream. I think I'm gonna die. And then, it stops.

"C-Cure 3" I cough out weakly. Nothing happens. "Cure 3," I say, stronger.

Oh damn, it Silenced us.

X-Potion, X-Potion… Remedy… where are you, I know I packed you… Remedy, thank gawd… I choke the bitterness of the Remedy down as best I can.

"Cure 3 All."

Around me, I see some rise from the ground, yet, some don't. Tifa manages to push herself to her knees, Cloud, Barret, Cait, and Vinnie do as well. Cid stays down along with Nanaki. I don't have a Revive Materia.. I hand out a couple of Remedies.

"Life 2," murmurs Tifa, hand outstretched to Nanaki. Cloud cracks open an ampoule of Phoenix Down over Cid's body, and he stirs. Before us, the Weapon is almost still, moaning slightly. But it still…

"CLOUD!" I scream, pointing out to the Weapon. "It's recharging!"

His head snaps up just in time to see Diamond Weapon unleash the same attack it had used on us on Midgar. And just as it does, the air around us explodes, and we hit the ground again as the Sister Ray fires a shell with the force of all eight of Midgar's reactors straight into the Weapon's torso. But the blast doesn't stop there. It pierces through Diamond and disappears over the horizon, exactly where Cait had said they were aiming: the Northern Crater and Sephiroth. Only when the air has settled, do I realize that the force of the blast has carried us about fifty meters away from the Weapon's body, back onto the shore. Even from here, I can see the fleshy hole that the Mako cannon blew through its chest.

Well, geez.

Shakily, we travel north. Cid still hasn't turned off the jets. The Northern Crater looms beneath the ship like a dark hole of a mouth, ready to suck us in and chew us up. But that mouth isn't closed now, for the barrier which was there before has dissipated completely, destroyed by the Mako shell. Somehow, I feel more scared, knowing that we'll have to go down there. Yet, going into that hole means that we get to have hope for life.

"Vinnie, after all of this is over, what do you want to do?"

"I…. don't know."

I smile. "I dunno, either."

He looks at me. "Won't you return to Wutai?"

"I don't want to."

"Why not?"

"It'll seem boring." I don't elaborate. Truthfully, my dad and I don't have a great relationship. Wutai is probably the last place I'd go after this… assuming that I live through it, of course! You know, there's really no place for me on this Planet. You can only have one hometown, and I've rejected mine. Maybe I'll stalk Vinnie for a while until he notices I'm stalking him and then I'll go crash with my friend, the weapon-making hermit for a while. He lives in a house in the middle of nowhere, and yet he's the coolest guy you'll ever know. I came across him before I met up with Spike and the others. He actually gave me something before I left—a trinket thingy. Still have no clue what it's supposed to do. But I always keep it with me.

"Do you have any family that might be living, Vinnie?"

"No."

"Oh."

A crackling sound erupts behind us and I jump. Sounds begin erupting from Cait Sith's megaphone. Cloud, Tifa, Nanaki, and Barret rush over to listen in. But the noises coming from it are so loud that they jump back suddenly, the sound of screaming people tearing through the stillness.

"Hojo is recharging the Sister Ray. If he succeeds in firing it again, Midgar will be destroyed. Since the cannon hasn't been cooled, it will surely recoil and possibly explode from the shock. In addition to that, he plans to drain the Reactors completely, which will render Midgar completely without electricity for an indefinite amount of time."

Cloud straightens himself up (unfortunately, not in more ways than one..) and stares at the megaphone blankly. "Who are we speaking to?" he demands. "How do we know we can trust you?" Good question.

A silence. Then..

"My name is Reeve Tuesti, and I am head of Midgar Urban Development. I am the controller of Cait Sith, and my actions lie solely in the welfare of Midgar's people."

Wow. That's heavy.

"Hojo is trying to kill Sephiroth. However, he will also kill countless people if he manages to fire the cannon again."

So.

Here we are. In a sewer. Heading towards the Sister Ray. Grossness, there could be all sorts of nasty things down here like—

"Well, well, if it isn't you guys again."

Like them.

"Turks." Spike draws his enormous sword from the harness on his back and takes a battle stance. "Let's get this over with quickly, we don't have any time to lose."

Honestly, I'm kinda excited to use my new shuriken again. I hurl the weapon as hard as I can toward Reno, who just barely turns in time to miss being cleaved in two. However, half his ponytail isn't so lucky as it falls cleanly to the ground.

"You JERK!" he yells, jabbing his nightstick furiously in my direction. I smirk. Here it comes..

He screams loudly as the shuriken comes whizzing back, cutting clean across his shoulder, and flying straight back into my waiting hand.

"The only one who's allowed to call people jerks is ME, you jerkface!!" And then, I run off, cackling. Sorry, guys. But I know what the definition of "hurry" is, and it isn't this.

I wonder which way I should go? Left or right down the tunnel? Either way looks endless. Vinnie appears at my side.

"Let's go."

Uhh, so I guess that left it is!

We race each other down the tunnel passage, the walls and columns blurring past, and the wind stinging my eyes and sending my hair wild around my face. Suddenly, a sharp yank tugs at my wrist and I almost go skidding to the floor as my body is dragged left. I stumble momentarily before getting back up to speed, and as I steady myself, I glance down to find Vinnie's claw clamped around my left wrist.

"This way," he says calmly as we rush along towards a ladder leading up to the cover of a manhole. The heavy, threadbare red cloth of his cloak brushes against my cheek as Vinnie hoists himself up onto the ladder and elegantly climbs up with movements slightly reminiscent of a spider's. Inwardly, I grumble at the show and clamber up the rungs with half his impossible grace. Hmph. I was probably faster!! Probably. As I throw an arm onto the sidewalk outside to get a grip on the pavement and pull myself out of the hole, Vinnie stands and looks around to get his bearings. "Sector Five," he mutters. "It would seem that we are almost where we need to be." Ho snap. Or, I guess in this case it would be Ho jo. Hahaha. I'm so pun-ny. …. Ahem.

Hmm. I'm sensing boobs. Maybe Tifa's on her way up, or…

"Kya- hahahahaha!!"

Or that.

Boom. Boom. Boom. And a giant robot walks right up to us.

Ho snap.

"Vincent, try going for the knee joints to see if you can topple it! I'll aim for the cockpit in its chest!"

I leap up onto one of the robot's legs and scamper up as fast as I can. With a hard push, I flip myself up onto its torso and hurtle up its metal-plated chest on momentum alone. I smirk deviously and throw myself at the glass window separating the cockpit from the outside.

SMOOSH.

I stick my tongue out and pull a face as I squish against the window, and inwardly, I'm cracking up. Time to put this shuriken to the test.. I bet this is bulletproof glass, so it's definitely extra-thick and strong.

"Yuffie, look out!!"

I turn my head away from the window just in time to catch one of the robot's massive claws coming straight at me. And then, I can almost see the leering grin of Heidegger and the triumphant smirk of Scarlet as I hear her laugh from the other side of the glass.

"Don't underestimate the power of Shinra Weapons Development's mecha-soldier, the Proud Clod!"

I grimace as the claw nears, waiting for the impact…

But it never comes.

A deafening crash reverberates in my ears as the entire arm falls to the ground, taking the claw that had been headed straight toward me with it. A second crash slightly to my right, and the sickening gurgle of blood in a dying throat follows. I open my eyes, not even realizing I'd closed them. And then, dread fills me, much greater than the fear of being smashed to pieces by the Proud Clod's claw.


	18. Crossroads

The Materia Hunter: Eighteenth Chapter— Crossroads

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VII.

* * *

All I can see is red.

There's red, pooling in a disgusting, sticky puddle around the shreds of Scarlet's red dress. Even her skin is red, stained by the blood. How can one person possibly hold that much blood in them? I strain to see and wish I hadn't. Her eyes gape open and staring, bloodshot and full of disdain, even in death.

There's red, in the shreds of his cloak, discarded by the gruesome transformation, flapping inches from my face, ominously.

There's red, dripping from my fingers as they grip the jagged, broken edge of the window. Either fall down to my death or climb up and alert Vinnie's monster to my presence. I think I'll stay here.

I crane my neck to look up, and finally, the red is interrupted by a flush of black, the wild mane of hair, even wilder in Vincent's transformation. Great bruise-colored wings extend from his back, leathery and veined. I hear thumping above and Heidegger stuttering a barely discernable plea. Vincent extends a blue-tinged hand, eerily graceful. Grayish talons have replaced his nails, and I shudder as I remember those claws lancing into me. I wonder if I can get down without making any loud noises… Once Heidegger's done, I can't help but think I'm next… This particular Vincent-monster probably already has a grudge against me, anyways. If he—

SPLURT!

I flinch and screw my eyes shut as Heidegger is slaughtered. Thankfully, I manage to retain my grip on the window. In a mere half a second, he lies on the floor of the cockpit, beside Scarlet. Although each murder took only the blink of an eye to miss, one could look at the bodies and assume they'd been cut in a dozen different places by the blood. I become suddenly aware of the throbbing in my fingers as the glass slices into them. I have to get down from here…

"You."

I freeze, too scared to look back up. No getting down now… Gawd.. I'm gonna die..

"Look at me."

I barely manage to shake my head, having lost control of all my limbs. I begin to tremble, my palms and temples dripping with cold sweat.

"Why won't you look at me, little girl?" His voice is smooth, and yet also rough, and full of danger. I gulp. I close my eyes.

I let go of the glass.

But I don't even get the privilege of falling. I fall for about a second before the side of my face impacts the demon's chest. I thrash out, only to find my legs confined in his tight grip. With a powerful beat of his wings, he shoots up towards the gray sky. Gawd, there is no way this could get worse…

It starts raining.

Gawd damn it.

I wonder how long it would take Spike and the others to find my body and tell my old man that I got killed by a great winged man-beast-thing with killer claws and fangs. Suddenly, I remember my Conformer, still strapped to my back. If only I could get to it. We're up so high now.. Even if I managed to get it and kill Vincent, I'd still die—

Wait… Kill Vincent?

_"Hey, Vinnie?"_

_"What is it?" _

_"Friends?"_

_It takes him a moment, but…_

_"Sure."_

Well. Fudgemuffins! Yes, Yuffie WOULD happen to be the only unlucky person in the world to promise her friendship to a dude who can morph into ninja girl-devouring monsters. Lucky me. But still… Maybe I really would have been flattered if he'd considered me a friend. Maybe… the real question should be, what do I see him as? I mean, I wanted to make off with all the Materia once, but now, I don't think I could do that again without regrets. And if I killed him, what would I do, really? You know, I feel sorta rotten now… telling him that we're buds and all, and then contemplating how to kill him.

Because even if he isn't QUITE human…

He's still Vinnie.

"VINNIEEEEEE!!!!!!" I scream with all my might into his concrete chest. Goddamn it, Vinnie, you have to take back control!

"Silence, girl."

Well. That didn't work. Crap.

"Vinnie, I know you're in there, okay, and I neeeeeeeed you to focus. I know you're in there brooding over your dead chick, and it's probably just a great honking blast, but you're gonna have TWO dead chicks soon if you don't save that for later, kay? Kay? Ohmygawd ohmygawd ohmygawd!" He suddenly goes into a dive, heading for what seems to be the Chocobo Plain, and my heart leaps into my throat. Please, please, pleeeaaasee don't let me be sick now. My soaked hair slaps my face as the rain pelts into my eyes, blinding me momentarily.

An inhuman scream erupts from the demon's chest, and his claws dig into my back and my leg as if they're trying to go through me to tear at their owner. And almost, I can hear Vinnie's voice. Well, maybe more _feel_ than hear. It's hard to describe.

_"Get back."_

He rises back up into the air, slowly and unsteadily, the grip on my body somewhat more slack. Carefully, I reach back and grasp the cool metal handle of the Conformer. Even if I had it out, what would I do? Gawd, ninjas are really NOT supposed to get into situations like this, you know! Ninjas are cool, emotionless, skilled, and dispensable. That last one always bugs me. But you know, they almost always die quickly and leave the enemy all worn out so that the pagoda master can take him down easily.

Not like me. But, you know, I'm not JUST a ninja. Heh.

Something seems a little different now.

We fly slowly, but more steadily back toward Midgar. Although he still holds me tightly, it feels more like Vinnie now than a demon. I look up to meet a feral golden gaze directed down at me. But I don't look away.

"Vinnie?"

Visible pain crosses his bluish face, and I wince. Maybe I should keep quiet…

I study his features a bit more. Unlike his other incarnations, this one seems somewhat still human in physique, and yet, at the same time, undeniably NOT human. Somehow, he holds twice the same haunting beauty that he always had. I grasp the Conformer close to me, careful not to poke him with it as to alert him to the threat. (Or my insecurity.)

Suddenly we gain speed, and I break my attention away from Vincent's face to look where we're going. The Sister Ray hurtles toward us at an impossible speed, and I cringe as we miss it by inches, darting along the length of its enormous barrel before approaching the metal control deck. A great bestial snarl heaves from Vincent's throat, and I look up at him. But his focus lies on the platform before us, his smoldering gaze radiating fury, his fangs bared. He beats his wings once, menacingly, sending a gust of damp air sweeping over the control deck before he lands in a crouch. I leap down from his arms, Conformer ready, prepared to spring.

Hojo.

"Hm? Oh, it's just you." Hojo turns from the control panel to face us, smirking. "That boy who I once saved even though he fancied my wife. You're lucky that I needed a test subject at the time. Though this particular… incarnation…" He walks up to Vincent, obviously ignoring his seething anger. "… I do not quite recall. Hmm. Very interesting… No matter, though. You will be dead soon. And then you can join that gullible, whore of a wife of mine in Hell. Heh heh."

I blink, and the next thing I see is Hojo, lying on the metal floor, blood pooling around him just like Heidegger and Scarlet. I look to Vincent fearfully and immediately notice his eyes, consumed completely by a frightening lunacy. Footsteps sound behind me, and I whip around to see Cloud and the others running up the steps to the platform, weapons out and ready for battle. They crowd around me, and I feel Tifa's hand on my shoulder. Vincent turns swiftly to face us, and I know that he's completely lost control this time. A movement catches the corner of my eye. I scream.

"VINCENT!!!!" And I hurl the Conformer with all my might at Hojo's body.

It feels like it takes a million years for my shuriken to cut through the air toward the rising shadow behind Vincent's demon. Yet, it feels like, in comparison to my weapon, the shadow's razor fangs and gripping tentacles take mere moments to grasp Vincent's neck, its teeth mere millimeters from the pulsing vein..

And with the distinct sound of metal blade meeting flesh, the Conformer slices clear across Vincent's shoulder and whizzes through what seems to be the shadow's head, flying in around in a perfect arc and returning back to me. I catch it absently, my eyes fixed on the scene. Vincent snarls loudly and loosely swings a clawed hand across Hojo's torso. I hear the tearing of flesh and see the dark blood drip from his vicious nails. And as he turns to look my way, I freeze again in terror.

_"I will KILL YOU!"_

Ho sh!t.

Better start finding some better hiding places for sleeping while Vinnie's around.

There isn't much to the remainder of this battle. I can tell that many of the members of our group are fighting with a certain extra zeal against Hojo. I don't know much about what happened in the past. But apparently, this guy caused a lot of problems.

BANG.

I look up mid-crouch to Vinnie, transformed back into human shape. Eyes burning, expression livid, he keeps the Death Penalty pointed at Hojo's head (or what seems to be his head). A smoldering hole leaks something clear and viscous from where the bullet pierces Hojo's skull. And as I look back into Vinnie's eyes, I catch something akin to sadness in his angry eyes as he lowers the Death Penalty slowly. It's astounding that he can handle such a rifle with only one hand. But then again, there isn't much about Vinnie that isn't astounding.

Except his personality. Or his lack of one. No, actually, that is rather astounding. He is so personality-less that it amazes me. Never mind, then.

You know, I think I might be very afraid of him. He's tall, menacing, can wield an enormous heavy rifle with one hand (apparently, he can even spin the thing on his index finger and shoot it without missing a beat…), and he can shape-shift into a wide assortment of terrifying monsters… He often refers to himself as a monster, and I think he's pretty freaking freaked at himself, but..

I wonder if it would be bad if I were freaking freaked at him, too.

He's very pretty. I guess I'd probably say that his appearance drew me in at first. I fantasized and followed him around, ignoring the fact that his eyes and face aren't simply pretty—they conceal something that is both a little more than Vincent Valentine.. and a little less, as well. Of course, it's nice to see the perfect gentleman that he's retained inside. But I.. well, I know that if we barged into Shinra headquarters randomly one day, he wouldn't hesitate to kill. He'd kill the unarmed employees, the receptionist, the janitor.. just to assure a fewer number of witnesses. No incapacitating, no evasive techniques… no, Vincent Valentine is about cold, fatal bullets. He chooses to use a gun because it dispatches efficiently and effectively. But it doesn't leave much room for mercy or _humanity._

He's a little less of Vincent Valentine because of that gun.

He's a little more because he's not the only one in that perfect body.

I'm admit that I'm afraid. And there are only a few "buts" to counteract that fear.

Vincent launches a second bullet into Hojo's skull, the crack of the gunfire startling me out of my brief reverie.

Oh, Vinnie.

_You monster man._

The rain showers down in great torrents of water, plastering my hair to my face and my clothes to my body. With the heat of the battle gone, I shiver slightly. Even through the laden storm clouds, Meteor looms in clear view overhead, red and menacing. We all stare up at it for several long moments, silent except for the pouring rain. Although Hojo is gone now, though the way into the Northern Crater is no longer blocked by Sephiroth's barrier, things seem suddenly hopeless. The reality sinks in—we must face him.

I remember the Temple of the Ancients. He drew close to me, and every muscle fiber in my body screamed for me to run. I remember my nerves. I'm not sure if I've ever been more terrified in my life, and I've been closer to death before than I was there. Sephiroth's presence is pants wettingly scary-as-^%!&, and now we gotta fight him.

On top of that, Vincent, the person who I've fought alongside and grown kinda close to since we met him… I'm unsure of what I think any more. I'm scared that his appearance and his strength tricked me into thinking that he's somehow better than a human, more able to keep control over his inner demons than the rest of us over our own personal, intangible inner monsters. But he's not. He's a human man who went through scarring experience after scarring experience, again and again through his life. Maybe that made him stronger in some ways. But his one experience with warmth, love.. it backfired on him.

I feel sorry for him. But if his mind is consumed by the darkness of his life all of the time, then his demons reign more freely over him than anyone! His darkness makes him dangerous, frightening.

Funny how listening to the rain makes you think about things like this.

I am afraid of Vincent because I know now that he is much weaker than I had ever thought. But if I left him alone after this, wouldn't his darkness grow? Something in me says that he wouldn't notice or care.

But…

If one of my friends left me in the middle of a struggle, I know that the struggle would just get worse without them.

And I think that if I left Vincent alone from now on, I would care. I'd be lonely. He's not particularly upbeat company, but he's somehow…

Warm.

I won't leave him. It might just be that I'm scared for myself or because I feel sorry for him, but that's okay.

We'll find out soon.

The roaring of engines approaches overhead, and I catch sight of the Highwind coming to pick us up. Great. There goes lunch.

We climb up the rope ladder in silence and head into the warm, dry interior of the ship where the cold wetness of my clothes and hair becomes even more apparent. I shiver more violently and hug myself tightly, quickening my pace toward the cabin where there's hopefully something decently clean to change into.

"Yuffie."

I automatically look up in response to the voice and meet Vincent's red eyes staring down at me.

"What?" I say, maybe a little too coldly. I immediately regret it. Though no one else would probably be able to notice it, I catch the fleeting bit of pain crossing behind those eyes.

"Here." And he wraps me in his cloak in a single swift movement. I stare up at him, expressionless.

"Thanks." I brush past him hurriedly. No use… I'm more afraid of him than I've ever been… I prod the button to open the cabin door, and it rolls open on its tracks. Rummaging around for a while under the bench produces a sleeveless top, a fresh pair of shorts, some high socks, and a vest that looks vaguely waterproof. I tug them all on senselessly and reach under the bench for my waterlogged shoes when my hand meets something heavy and wooly.

Heavy and wooly…

I pull it out, confused.

The heavy black coat Vincent had gotten for me for our hike up Mt. Gaea hangs from my grasp. I stare at it for a moment.

"_I found a coat for you. It will be much colder as we climb the mountain."_

_W-wait! MOUNTAIN?_

_I blink. "What mountain?"_

_He blinks, too. "Mount Gaea. Cloud mentioned it earlier."_

"_He did?"_

I was pretty horrified at that.

"_Uhh, Vinnie?"_

"_?"_

"_What is this?"_

"_It's a coat."_

"_It….. don't look like a coat."_

"_?"_

"_It looks more like a cloak to me."_

"…………_."_

_I swear, it's a cloak. It's black and wool and it's heavy as shit. It has buttons and… oh.. Sleeves._

"_Never mind."_

I shove my hands into the sleeves and button the thick cuffs around my wrists. Grabbing my soaked shoes and a Fire Materia, I carefully combust the air around the sneakers to dry them. My body quickly warms from the heat of the magic and the thick coat.

I guess Vincent should want his cloak back soon. He got pretty soaked, too. I transfer the heat from my now-dry shoes to the air surrounding Vincent's cloak. Least I can do is get it dry for him—

FWOOSH!

The door to the cabin swishes open again, letting in a sudden gust of air, and the hem of Vincent's cloak ERUPTS INTO FLAMES.

"OHMYGAWD!!!!" I shriek as I dive at the burning fabric, flailing my limbs against it to stifle the blaze. An acrid plume of smoke rises from the extinguished cloak.

"You brat! You burned Valentine's cloak!" Cid stands in the doorway, aghast at what happened. Stupid chain smoking old geezer.

"Leave me alone, old man! You're the one who opened the frickin' door and made the air come in and catch my Fire Materia!" That jerk. Oh gawd, Vincent's gonna kill me!

"It's not my fault that you can't control your own goddamn Materia, brat."

"Shut up!" I snap. "Where's Vincent, anyway?"

"Bridge. Better go now while Spike and the rest of 'em are there too."

Yeah. So I can have an AUDIENCE to witness me getting eaten alive. Shakily, I gather the crimson cloth into my arms. The entire hem is charred black and brown and a few black bits flake off and flutter lifelessly to the floor. Oh gawd… I brush the remaining loose burned bits off as best as I can. Cid is such a jerk… This is all his fault… Well. At least the cloak is dry. Oh gawd.

I make my way (very slowly, I might add) to the bridge where I immediately spot Vincent, sitting, brooding as usual off to the side near some control panels. Nanaki lounges nearby, apparently asleep. Stealthily, I pick my way over to them.

"Umm, Vincent?"

He looks up slowly, and I can see the fatigue in his face. His eyes drift momentarily to the cloak in my arms (charred hem hidden in the bundle).

"IwasdryingitwithaFireMateriaandwhenCidopenedthedooritcaughtonfire."

He blinks, staring at me through half-lidded eyes. "It caught fire?"

Damn, I was hoping he wouldn't catch that. Not like he wouldn't eventually notice…

"Uh yeah…" I supply weakly. "I was drying it with a Fire Materia, and a breeze came in when Cid opened the door. I guess it fueled the combustion I was running around it because the bottom of it suddenly caught on fire… I'msosorry!!!" I screw my eyes shut and thrust the bundle of fabric at him. Gingerly, he takes the cloak from me. Several long, silent moments pass, and I'm assuming that he's assessing the damage. Oh gawd.

RrrrrRRRIIPPP!

"AUGH!" My eyes pop open, half expecting to find his claw tearing into my leg. But no. Instead, his cloak lays on the floor in two piece—one long narrow strip with most of the burn marks on it, and the rest of the cloak with a very jagged, thread-y, ragged bottom. I stare.

"AUGH!" I shriek again. "YOU TORE IT!!!"

"I tore it," he repeated.

"You… You…" I stutter, my hands gesturing wildly. "…tore it!!!"

"Yes," he deadpans.

My eyes widen. "But it's… How are you gonna fly out the window at night to go suck people's blood in their sleep?" I immediately gasp and clap my hands over my mouth. Okay, what the HELL prompted me to say that?!?? (gee, maybe it's the fact that he looks like a vampire and tried to kill me earlier?)

"I suppose I will have to be satisfied with the blood onboard the airship," he replies dryly, not missing a beat. He has the most sarcastic look on his face. I didn't know he was capable of that. Learn something new everyday… Well, at least he hasn't killed me. Eep.

"Er." Unable to come up with a snappy comeback (curse you, Vincent Valentine), I instead stare down at the ruined cloak, dumbfounded.

"Yuffie, it's only the hem."

Rush of relief. Okay. He's not mad. Now to escape with life.

"OkaybyeVincent!" I whirl around and make to dash away—

--but no.

"Wait." I freeze in my tracks, eyes darting down to see Vincent's claw grasping my wrist. I shiver involuntarily and I feel him wince. He lets me go abruptly and a jolt of something unexplainable erupts through my body. And then…

I run away from him.

As fast as I can run, which is pretty damn speedy, I flee from Vincent, heart threatening to pound straight out of my chest, adrenaline making every nerve jump. Why I run, I'm not sure. I know that I'm afraid. But I also know that I feel sorry for him and that he'll get worse if I run, and that I probably actually LIKE him.

I keep running.

I run away from him, and the more I realize that running is the wrong thing to do, the faster I run. I take the stairs to the deck two, three at a time and burst out into the wet, cool air. Nowhere else to run. I eye the parachutes in the emergency box on the wall.

Why am I doing this?

I slump down against the railing and let out a long sigh. The rain soaks me again. I don't really care.

"Yuffie?"

I look over in surprise.

"Cait Sith?"

"Hey, what's up?"

I look back down at my feet. "Have you ever been really scared of someone who you have to work with?"

"Well, yes, all the time. Rufus Shinra was a pretty intimidating figure, as was his father. You didn't want to mess around with either of them. But I had to work with them every day and be productive on top of that. Sometimes I feel that the failure of the Midgar slums is because I couldn't work past the Shinras. I really hated seeing the slums and the people in them suffer. They reminded me of how weak I was against the President."

"Isn't that the Shinras' fault, though?"

"Probably… But that was because they were born with the consciousnesses of businessmen. I wasn't. It tortured me. They were naturally apathetic to the people's suffering below the Plate. But I could never be. However, opposing them is like us opposing Sephiroth. It's frightening on so many levels. In the end, I just wasn't good enough to reason with them to make things better for the slum-dwellers."

I don't think that this predicament is like mine very much. But Cait Sith isn't just a Mog and a cat with a megaphone.

"You're… Reeve, right?" I question.

"Reeve Tuesti, Head of Midgar Urban Development. And this team's resident traitor."

I snort. "No, I'm pretty sure that position belongs to me, Reeve."

Cait flashes a grin at me. "Well, maybe.." he says slyly. "But they still like you! You're a teammate. A friend. They care about you, even though you betrayed them once." I wince. "I guess that just proves that if you like someone and care about them enough, you just can't leave 'em."

Can't leave them, huh.

"Did someone you care about hurt you, Reeve?"

Silence.

"Hmmmm. Sorry."

I head back inside, considerably calmer, but also soaked through to the bone. It seems like it'll rain forever. I shudder. That would suck. You know, I never thought much about Cait Sith as a person. But whoever this Reeve guy is… I'd like to meet him face-to-face someday. He reminds me a bit of my dad… back when he was halfway decent.

The engines of the ship groan under me, and I can tell that we're landing. A soft rumble and a thump signifies our touchdown, and I go to the bridge. I wonder why we've landed.

"Hey Spike, what's up?" I ignore the furtive, careful glance Vincent shoots me as I pass his emo-corner.

"We don't have much time," Spike announces solemnly. "We're landing now, and I want everyone to finish their business, wherever on the Planet that may be." He turns to me. "You should go see your dad," he tells me, "and maybe try to fix things with him." He turns back to stare out the window into Meteor's sinister red rays. "And if any of you don't want to come back, don't come back. We're going down into the Crater tomorrow."

My heart skips a beat. So here we go.

I probably should go home to Wutai. I draw my eyes away from Meteor to catch the white rays of the morning sun dawning over the horizon.

Cid turns on the jets and we fly to our destinations in a serious, reverent silence. Lounging in one of the pilots' chairs on the bridge, I crack open one eye to steal a look at Vincent. He hasn't moved since I returned his cloak to him, and his face is shadowed by his hair.

Bloody-eyed, cold hearted murderer?

Or…

A man struggling with his past and his inner demons, too occupied in his own mind to care about much else?

I wonder what the end of the world would mean to him. I wonder if he's just in this because Sephiroth is what Hojo released into the world and is whose birth killed Lucrecia Crescent. I wonder if he sees Sephiroth as Lucrecia's son or her murderer.

I wonder what he's in this for.

Despite the overall appearance of "just saving the world", we're all in this for something. For ourselves. Spike found his reason when he learned the truth about Aeris' lineage and her mission. Tifa would follow Spike to the ends of the earth and back. She already has, several times. Barret's in it because he hates the Shinra and wants to undo the damage they have caused. Cid also hates them for crashing his dreams all that time ago (he's seemed pretty chipper lately, though). Cait Sith was a spy for the Turks. But I know he hates the Company, too, secretly. It's weird. He'll always be "one of them", or a spy to us. But he might have the noblest reason to be a part of this group. It's not for personal revenge or gain or even love of a person. Nanaki is a complicated guy. Sometimes I think he's just interested in seeing it out because he's grown up studying Planet Life. But I think he also has a connection to the Planet that most of us don't quite have.

Me? I'm in it for the STUFF, man. Materia's my game. And the glory and fame will bring prosperity to Wutai if the STUFF doesn't.

And, well, you know. I kinda like these guys, too. I catch a glimpse of Nanaki from the side window leaping off the deck and bounding up the steps to his home.

"See you, Nanaki." And he returns solemnly to the front gates of Cosmo Canyon.

Spike turns to Vincent. "Are you going to Nibelheim, Vincent?"

"No."

"Let's get on course to Rocket Town, then."

I look around to find not only Nanaki gone, but also Cait and Barret. Cid, Vincent, Spike, Tifa, and I remain. Cait and Barret must have gone to Midgar and Kalm a while back. I didn't even notice.

My mind has been feeling kinda funny lately.

No matter what, it always just comes back to Vincent. I don't want him near me. I do want him near me. He's like an all-in-one male figure, but he's apparently so unstable in the head that it makes MY head hurt.

For some reason now, I can't just leave him.

"_I guess that just proves that if you like someone and care about them enough, you just can't leave 'em."_

Cait's words come back to me in a flash, but I feel weird thinking about it that way. I dunno what I feel about a lot of stuff when it comes to people. It feels like I just need him to be with me now. But I've been alone, on my own, for more time than I was ever HIS ally.

So why do I want to go over to him right now and just talk to him and look at him and be his friend again?

I'm so confused…

"Any ideas on how you're going to smooth things over in Wutai, Yuffie?" Tifa sits next to me in an empty chair, and I look up from a particularly captivating bolt in the floor to meet her eyes. She smiles reassuringly at me. I wish my dad and Wutai were my only issues right now…

"I dunno," I start, thinking about Wutai for the first time in a while, actually. All of that's always in the back of my mind. But it's been a while since I actually brought it to the forefront. "I might challenge the Pagoda."

"What is that?" Tifa asks, eyebrows raised.

"There is a five-storied pagoda at the north end of town. A powerful warrior dwells on each floor of the building, ready to face all challengers wanting to prove themselves. They're the strongest warriors in Wutai. Royal warriors, in fact. There have only been a few to defeat the five stories of the pagoda. But on the fifth story, the strongest warrior waits—the Omni God. The warrior there is my old man. I know that if I can defeat the Pagoda, I will gain his respect."

"Do you think you have surpassed him, Yuffie?"

I shrug. "I dunno. He never fights. Never has to any more. No one's been able to get past the first four floors since he did decades ago, and there has been no war since the Wutai War. And that was when I was very young.."

"You don't seem too troubled by it."

I grin cockily at her. "Meh. I'm too good for my old man now. He'll see."

"Well, something's bothering you."

"You could tell?"

"It's Vincent, isn't it?" Surprisingly, there isn't even a hint of a laugh in her voice. I decide to be truthful about it.

"Yeah, kinda."

Tifa doesn't smile like I expect her to. Instead, she puts a hand on my shoulder. "Vincent may seem like he doesn't care," she muses, "but he is human and you two have been together since he joined this group. It's obvious how he cares for you, and while he doesn't show it easily, it's still clear. And yes, it's that simple." She grins at the incredulous look on my face. "We're over Rocket Town right now, so we'd better see Cid off, right?" I get to my feet and follow after her.

I don't even know what my instincts are right now. Run. Go back. Run. Go back. Run. Go back. It's confusing to the max.

"Hey, Valentine, you wanna come and spend the night with me and Shera? Sure we could find some space for ya." Cid shoves a fresh cigarette into his mouth and lights it, beckoning toward Vincent.

"No, thank you Cid. The gesture is appreciated, though."

This could be a very long airship ride.

By the time we take to the air again, it's around noon and my stomach is pleading me for sustenance. I wonder if we have any cheese… I wander to the ship kitchen to snoop.

SUCCESS.

With a string cheese and a can of soda in my hand, I plop back down into my chair and proceed to devour the mozzarella goodness. Mmm. Cheese. Surreptitiously, I look over into Vincent's emo corner from behind the safety of my soda can. He's still sitting there, one leg lying on the floor with the other drawn to him, his arm resting on the bent knee. He looks up at me. Shoot.

Tired eyes…

Not trying to hide the fact that I was staring after being caught, I nonchalantly place my can on the control panel and swing my legs innocently. Not… looking… away… He isn't either. You want a staring contest, bud? You got one.

Blink.

Damn, I lost.

"Hey, Vincent." I stare at him again, the sweat dripping down the back of my neck.

"What?"

"Your face." Ha.

"…"

I take a deep breath. And then, I stand up. I walk over to Vincent's emo corner cautiously. I sit down. His shadow and the shadow of his corner don't touch me.

"Hey, Vincent."

He doesn't say anything. But there's an extremely bored look on his face.

"Fine. I'll say it anyway. Your….. MOM."

"…"

I turn away from him and we have a five minute awkward silence party.

Okay, five minutes is a really frickin' long time for awkward silences. I look back over to him.

… Is he… pouting???

"HAHAHAHAHA!!!!!" I dunno if I'm pretending not to be scared, so scared that I don't care any more, or not scared at all. But for some reason, I'm laughing my head off right now. He looks at me with a dubious expression on his face. I must know this guy pretty well. It used to be that I couldn't make out any expressions from him at all. But I've seen him pouting, looking bored, and dubious, all in the last ten minutes. Well, I guess Tifa's right in that we've at least been together a while.

Honestly, after all's said and done, that might just be good enough for me.

He may be a monster man.

He may have some sanity issues.

He may be a brooding emo chick who wears vampire costumes and wants nothing more than to "atone" (yes, he's a chick in this sentence because "brooding emo chick" sounds better than "brooding emo old man"). Brooding emo old man… Gawd, that's like if Cid turned around and became a freaky depressed Goth.

Augh.

Yeah. Anyways.

And he might be harboring a flesh-ripping demon with a murderous grudge against me, but hey…

He's also a friend. Or close enough to it for me to overlook the fact that he wants to kill me, deep down inside. That takes pretty true friendship, right? Also, he hasn't dumped me even though he knows I'm a betraying klepto. Perfect.

Oh, hey, I'm still laughing.

"—hahahaha… what?"

And he's still staring at me like I'M some sort of retard.

"Hey Vinnie?"

And this time, he actually looks interested in what I've got to say.

"Yes, Yuffie?

I smile. "You know I love ya, right?"

He doesn't say anything. But, just barely, I can see his lips curve upward in a smile. His eyes soften. (I swoon.)

And the journey continues.

* * *

I'm really sorry about these huge delays. I haven't given up, really. Lost inspiration, yes. (All of it, pretty much…) And I'm really busy in my first year of university. But I haven't given up! And there should be only two chapters left, though I'll probably include an epilogue to tie things up.


	19. Reason To Fight

The Materia Hunter- Nineteenth Chapter: Reason To Fight

* * *

Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy VII or 'Twilight'.

* * *

The silence is companionable now, not uncomfortable or stifling any more. Nevertheless, it is quickly broken. To my surprise, it's Vincent who does so, not me.

"You are challenging the Pagoda of Wutai." A statement, not a question. Man, it's weird how he can hear everything…

"Yeah, guess so." I'm not too nervous. We've taken down WEAPONs, huge, sinister monsters created by the Planet, for crying out loud.

"I was in Wutai with Eastern diplomats on a peacekeeping mission about thirty-three years ago. Back then, your father's father was Wutai's leader and we met with him. But I recall the Pagoda well. I was young and arrogant. The diplomats I was accompanying wanted to see me matched against them. For peacekeepers, I remember them being particularly belligerent people. I did accept the challenge, though. After defeating the first warrior, I grew even surer of myself. The ease by which the second warrior struck me down was startling."

Wow, Vinnie got his ass kicked by the second guy. Must have been Shake's dad. Shake… that brat. I cannot WAIT to kick his puny little butt. He always used to steal my practice knives. Then, he'd pretend that he was all innocent and crap and I'd spend half the day looking for them and dreading how my dad would yell at me for losing them. AND THEN, the little jerk would run off with them and TELL my dad how I'd THROWN them at him, a "poor, innocent little boy", and that he'd run away with my knives so that I couldn't get him.

"Yeah, umm…" I start, a vicious grin forming on my face as I consider the image of Shake ACTUALLY pinned to the wall of the Pagoda with REAL knives. "I'm not worried, to be honest. I mean, I know that you got beaten and all, but that was a long time ago when Wutai wasn't so peaceful and we had a powerful, skilled military. People in general were just stronger then. But now, the Pagoda is more for tradition than anything. The first guy is this old fat dude who used to mentor me and the second guy is a bratty little kid who used to get me in trouble with my old man all the time."

Silence again. But then he says, carefully,

"It is better to be cautious than underprepared."

And he hands me a fistful of Materia. YEAH BABY.

"I expect those back when we reconvene."

Hmph.

"I guess you're coming down into the Crater then, huh Vinnie."

"Yes."

"And you're assuming that I'm gonna come back?"

He hesitates.

"Yes."

I count the Materia he's handed to me and assess their types. Master Restore. Master Barrier. HP Plus. Comet. Deathblow. I slip these into my pocket, rolling one last orb between my fingers tenderly.

Odin.

The others make a good amount of sense to have, but Odin is one of those "extra" Materia orbs that you equip if you have the capacity or if you just like Summons and their power. I feel that all of us have somewhat outgrown a Summon like Odin. But I suppose Vincent has lent me this as a promise of sorts.

He's pretty sure that giving me Odin will assure that I'll come back because when we first met… I gave him Odin. An action that still surprises me. I don't give away Materia. Especially valuable Materia.

I could make off with any other Materia he'd give me. But he's good. And he's right. I wouldn't be able to just not return this one.

"Vinnie, take this one back. I don't think I'll need it." I hold out the red orb, not quite meeting his eyes.

"I think you will," he says, a slight bit more emphatic than usual.

This time, I look him square in the eye. "You know what you're doing, don't you." A statement.

"If I did not, would I see you again?" A question. But more of a statement than I'd just made. My heart rate surges because I don't know what I want to do. When I go back, I don't think I'll want to leave. I'll defeat my dad. And then I'll know that I'll finally gain his respect. I'll finally feel like I'm meant to be Wutai's leader, like I don't have to try and impress anyone higher than me because there won't BE anyone higher.

But it seems that Vincent is trying to make my decision for me.

If Meteor falls, I might not have my chance to make Wutai into what I want it to be. There may not be a future.

"I'll take Odin, then."

"Do so." He watches as I slip the Summon into my pocket with the other Materia.

We land near Wutai not five minutes later. I grasp my Conformer tightly in my hand, fully equipped with both of Vincent's and my own Materia. There is no rain here, but dark clouds threaten in the distance. Gah. They followed us.

"Call me tomorrow morning sometime, Yuffie," says Cloud. He puts a hand on my shoulder and grins wearily at me. "We'll pick you up if you decide that you want to fight alongside us in the Crater."

I put my hand on my hip. "You know what your problem is, Spike?" I shoot. "You have no faith. I'd bet you a million Gil that everyone's gonna be there tomorrow when we go into that hellhole. I know I'll be there. I'm not even gonna call. I expect you here tomorrow morning at 10 AM sharp. Also, get some sleep. You look like you've had your nose broken; the shadows under your eyes are so bad. If we didn't have Vinnie, you would be the team vampire right now. Say, have you ever read 'Twilight'?"

He stares at me, bewildered. "No…"

"Well, you look like Edward Cullen except shorter, blonder, more blue-eyed, and…" I think for a moment, bouncing slightly on the balls of my feet. "… less badass because you can't read minds or produce glittering sweat."

"This 'Twilight' sounds stupid."

"So says YOU, obligatory blond male RPG leader character."

And with a shout of "I SHALL BE BACK, SUCKAS!" I leap away toward the grand front gates of my hometown.

I guess that means that I can't die between now and tomorrow morning, then. I check the time on my PHS. 4:38 PM. It's been a while since I've been just on my own. Funny that it would be here. I wander through the familiar streets, enjoying the bustle of the people, the noise of their steps blending into a rush of silk kimonos, harmonizing with the gentle flow of the stream running parallel to the path. Snatches of conversation catch in my ears, ringing in the familiar buzz of my native language. Quickly, I find myself at the front door of my own home.

"Here we go…"

And I step over the threshold.

Time for business.

Roughly, I tie my hair into a low ponytail with a scrap of silk. It's too long. I grab something with a blade off the wall and sever the tail of hair just above the tie. Better. Carelessly, I toss the discarded locks into a bin. I slide open a concealed door and yank a piece of clothing off a hanger. Battle kimono. Quickly, I strip off my shorts and top and thrust my arms into the sleeves of the kimono. It falls to mid-thigh, and I wrap the wide obi belt around my waist expertly. Battle clothing isn't meant to be fancy—I tie the belt in a simple knot at the back. A pair of tight, stretchy shorts go underneath. Next, I strap on a holder to attach the Conformer to my back. This will be important if I need to use hand-to-hand. Bracers and gauntlets slip over my fingers to protect my wrists and hands. Sorting through my own Materia, I select a few pieces and place them in the open slots. Lastly, I pin a fan-shaped ornament into my newly shorn hair, at the side just above the ear. My mother's. It's called a jhoomar.

Checking my Materia one last time, I place the Conformer into the holder and lace my feet into boots. It's time.

Finally, I can be free from my dad's supremacy.

And get revenge on Shake.

But mostly become free from my dad.

It only takes a few minutes to get to the Pagoda, but I find myself walking extra slowly. I take in the sight of neon lights, of street-side vendors selling key chains and souvenirs, of tourists with cameras and food stands selling our native dishes altered for Eastern tastes. Then, for just a moment, I turn and stare Da Chao in the face, the rain clouds hovering over it, like some sort of ominous sign.

"I know," I whisper, inhaling to take in the earthy scent of the coming downpour. "I'll bring your dignity back."

I run toward the gilded doors of the Pagoda then, and as they close behind me, the rain falls down.

"Welcome to the Great Pagoda of Wutai! To your right is our famous display of Toya Era swords, each used by historic warriors in battle. Unfortunately, the Pagoda is closed for the day, however, so I'm afraid you can't proceed upstairs. If you come back tomorrow, you can certainly tour the upper floors!"

A part of me dies inside. A large part.

"Look, you little tour-jerker," I snarl loudly, stalking forward and gripping the suddenly terrified perky tour girl by the collar of her cheap satin kimono. "I didn't come here to take a damn tour. Do you have any idea who the hell I am?!" My blood pounds powerfully through my veins, adrenaline making me tenser still.

"Se- Security!!!" she screams as soon as I let her go. Oh gawd, this place has security?! Why the HELL would the PAGODA OF WUTAI need SECURITY?!? I snarl again as a group of seedy looking guys in police-y looking uniforms come running down toward us wielding flashlights and wooden sticks. Oh, how nice. Sticks.

"I came here to _fight_," I hiss, attention turned back to the girl. "I imagine my dad's around here somewhere. Pagoda or no, I'm here to kick his ass." I turn on my heel to leave. "If I have to thrash his sorry butt and haul him into the goldfish pond in his stupid palace to legitimately defeat him, I will. Oh, and…" I reach into my obi quickly and draw out four throwing knives. Yes, real ones. "As soon as I deliver the beat down on dear old Dad, you all are frickin' fired." With that, I turn around, and in a flash, each of the security guys and the tour girl are pinned to the back wall by knives through the palms of their hands. Gawd, I'm pissed.

The Pagoda erupts with screams as I walk out into the rain.

I hate this so much.

"GODO!" I scream as I blast open the door to the Palace with a third level Fire spell. The two weak guards lay incapacitated along the walkway. Pointless. "GET YOUR ASS OUT HERE!" A pair of servant girls cast looks of terror at each other before approaching me, obviously on the verge of wetting themselves. In any other situation, I'd be laughing. But I'm in the mood to kick the crap out of a whole _Pagoda_ full of people right now.

"Excuse me… miss?"

I glare at the two servants and they both cringe.

"Lord Godo is not in at the moment."

My glare becomes harder. "Where is he, then?!"

"He should be in the Pagoda, miss."

Most likely snoring in a fifth floor corner to not notice the ruckus I caused.

"Where are the other Pagoda masters?!"

One of the servants backs away, and I notice that my hand is bleeding from my nails piercing my skin as my fist tightened. I loosen my grip.

"They should be in the Pagoda as well, miss."

I scowl. "Well, old man Gorky wasn't on the first floor like usual. Were they all having a stupid little drinking game on the fifth floor with Godo or something?! It's not like they have anything better to do these days."

"I cannot say, miss."

I turn around to go back out—again. "Next time, you'd better call me 'Mistress'," I mutter as I return to the door.

I enter the Pagoda again to find my four hapless victims still trapped against the wall. I sigh. Looking at them, their hands bleeding, obviously in excruciating pain, their expressions fresh with new terror at my return… it makes me feel like I'm turning into Vincent.

"I might need these knives," I rationalize aloud as I go to each of them and yank the throwing knives out of their hands. As soon as they are free, they collapse to the floor, shaking in fear. Sheesh. I draw my Conformer. They all gasp and scramble away from me. I glare again.

"Cure 3," I cast, my borrowed Materia glowing bright green in the slot of my weapon. The wounds on their hands disappear, but scars remain. A present from Yuffie Kisaragi in thanks for betraying your homeland… allowing it to rot away in tourism, allowing our traditions to be twisted and manipulated… It's so stupid.

I walk away from them wordlessly and ascend the stairs. I need to find my old man. Gawd, I think I could kill him right now, I'm so mad. Hot tears trickle down my cheeks as I remember my mom and her pretty kimonos, her long, long hair, and how she loved Wutai. Wutai was so beautiful. In the springtime, there were cherry blossoms and delicious foods untainted by Eastern preferences. Everyone always wore beautiful, elaborate outfits made of heavy brocade for the festivals in the spring, and the stream was so peaceful with its water lilies and the way it ran under the bridge in front of the Turtle's Paradise, which used to be just a normal restaurant that served the best dango for the cherry blossom season. Now it's a bar and sushi place. I've never even really liked sushi. But it's apparently Wutai's staple food, according to the rest of the Planet. That and "kung pao chicken", which I had never even heard of much less tasted before I visited Midgar for the first time, shortly after I set out on my own.

Everything I've seen connected to Wutai in the East breaks my heart. But I think that coming back here breaks it even worse.

I emerge onto the second floor of the Pagoda to be greeted by an odd counter I hadn't seen there before, at the left wall. I approach it warily. No one is there, and a "Closed" sign is propped up on the counter's surface.

"Moo Goo Take Out—Best Kung Pao Chicken in Town!"

I collapse to my knees in front of the stand and bawl my eyes out.

"Damn it!!!" I scream, pounding the floor with my fist. The walls shake with a sudden enormous clap of thunder. My sentiment, exactly.

"Leviathan," I pray, "please help us."

I drag myself to my feet and head to the third floor.

I walk past the wide rack of tour brochures and I try not to care, tears flowing freely all the way. This is home. This is my blood, my birthright, my memories. I hate Godo so much.

I reach the fourth landing shakily.

"M-My Lady!"

Finally, someone who remembers who I am. I greet Staniv silently with a view of the top of my head. My eyes stare, boring holes into the floor. I don't want to see. He grips me tightly by the shoulders momentarily before embracing me. I just cry harder.

This is home. This is my blood. This is my birthright. These are my memories.

I'd rather be on the Highwind right now. I'd rather be embracing Vincent.

Anywhere but here.

I take a shuddering breath before balling up my fists again and socking Staniv as hard as I can straight in the jaw. A satisfying crack and a yelp of pain meets my ears. He crumples to the floor, holding his face. But quickly, he makes to get up. I draw my Conformer swiftly, one of its glinting points aimed straight toward Staniv's neck. I can hear him swallow.

"You know why I'm here," I whisper, hoarse from my tears. "Now change into your God form or concede. Either way, you'll be defeated."

He sighs and rises to his feet despite my blade. This time, I look up into his eyes. They look regretful. He knows why I'm upset. But soon he'll be answering to ME, not my old man.

"I am Staniv, fourth of the Five Mighty Gods. I am undefeated, and you shall not be the one to best me, Lady Yuffie Kisaragi." He backs away from me, suddenly intense as he takes a fighting position. "WEAPON CHANGE!"

I narrow my eyes as Staniv shifts into his God form—the War God. He swings a heavy flail over his head. Immediately, I cast Wall.

"UUURGH!" And he hurls the flail at me, the heavy iron weight hurtling straight for my stomach. I leap out of the flail's path easily. But I make the mistake of not looking back. Suddenly stars pop in my eyes, delaying only slightly the splitting pain in the back of my head. I suck in a burst of air before falling to the floor painfully. What the HELL was that?! Did his flail just FOLLOW me around the room?! From my place on the floor, I look up at Staniv, once again swinging the weapon over his head. He glares down at me fiercely. Damn him. I spring to my feet, head pounding, vision swaying.

"Regen." I take off straight toward Staniv, Conformer held out like a shield. He grunts and swings the flail toward me again. Prepared this time, I spring over the attack. When faced with attacks that can track you… get the attack to destroy its owner. The oldest trick in the book. I dive at Staniv and flip myself over his shoulders just in time to see, or rather hear his face being used as my shield from his own weapon.

"Weapon change, huh?" I remark, surveying the now-defeated War God on the floor. "Yeah, I'd agree that you need a weapon change." He reverts back into his human form, the fierce eyes and gray leathery skin dissipating to reveal Staniv, unconscious. I'll take his stupid body as proof. Slinging his arm around my neck, I drag him up the stairs.

I don't dislike Staniv. He's a nice guy. But he's part of the reason Wutai is like this, and I can't forgive that. The Five Mighty Gods preside over Wutai together, though my father is mainly responsible as the reigning Lord. Our legislature is pretty ineffectual, in my opinion. Godo makes all the decisions. He can be overruled only if the other four of the Five Mighty Gods oppose him in unison, which means that the other four all have to agree on one thing opposite Godo for him to be overruled. So basically, there might as well be only one Mighty God because Godo's never, ever been effectively opposed.

Whether he opposed Godo or not, the solution is simple: defeat him and take Wutai into my own hands.

"GODO!" I cry as I emerge onto the top floor. Four figures whirl around to face me, shock evident on their faces. I meet the eyes of old man Gorky first as he looks toward Staniv's unconscious form then back to me. Shake stands next to him, grown up, but still shorter than me. Beside him stands Chekhov, a middle-aged yet very pretty woman. Her eyes turn sharp quickly. I only glare back. And next to her…

My old man.

I drop Staniv to unceremoniously to the floor and stalk toward him, hand automatically reaching back for the Conformer. My limbs shake slightly from unrestrained anger. Vaguely, I hear the sounds of Staniv coming to behind me.

"You. Are. An. IDIOT," I snarl viciously, once again reminding myself of Vincent. I point the Conformer at his throat as he scowls down at me.

"And you are a disgrace," he spits. "How dare you talk to me like that; you are no daughter of mine, and you speak to me as if YOU have authority!" Suddenly, he grabs the arm holding the Conformer and forces it to the side. I resist, but as I do, a stinging pain erupts in my cheek.

He slapped me.

I scream in rage and launch my fist toward Godo. "FIGHT ME, OLD MAN!!!" I scream, missing his face narrowly. "I WILL INHERIT WUTAI!! AND LEVIATHAN WILL SMILE DOWN ON US ONCE MORE!!!"

"OMNI CHANGE!"

And so it begins.

I find myself staring down an impossibly tall three-faced beast wielding a wicked looking saber. Swiftly, it slashes at me, and I flip out of its way expertly. Gonna have to do better than that, old man… I swing the Conformer out in front of my body as two green Materia orbs glow bright in its slots.

"Regen!" I cry, narrowly dodging another slash of the Omni God's sword. Unexpectedly, the God lands a well-aimed kick into my abdomen, knocking the wind out of me. I land on my back and roll to the side, gasping for breath. "Wall!" The slight sheen of the defense shimmers before me just a split second before the sword smashes into it, aiming for my shoulder. My heart leaps.

I sprint around to face the Omni God's terrifying white side as I reach into my kimono for the throwing knives I'd stashed. However, when I throw them, the God dances out of their trajectories, and the white face grins eerily. I scowl and make to throw the Conformer when a familiar pyramid of white hotness captures me. I scream. Oh gawd, oh gawd this hurts. Oh gawd, it's Trine. My Wall releases me from the spell earlier than if it hadn't been there, and silently, I thank Vincent for loaning me Master Barrier.

"Comet!" I call as the Materia beckons down a shower of rocks to beat Godo's head in. Satisfied, I watch him slowly crumple against the barrage. A particularly large rock impacts the white forehead and I smirk as a thick line of blood flows. Thanks a lot for the Trine, buddy. The attack ends, and a cloud of dust rises from the impact site.

"HRRAAUUGHH!!!!" Suddenly, the Omni God emerges from the dust, red dragon's face glaring murder down at me, saber raised. As if in slow motion, I feel the blade contact with my left shoulder and swipe across my chest, ever close to my heart… I choke a breath down in shock as the blood spills over the Conformer in my hands, and a twinkle of red flashes in my eyes before…

_An ethereal silence sweeps overhead, and I find that I can't move. Everything in front of me seems unreal, like I'm reading it out of a storybook._

O-Odin?

The sword in my chest freezes in its path as the dark knight descends. A steel blade is drawn, and it flashes before the charger gallops away.

As the Summon fades into the quivering air, the dark knight turns to look at me.

I just barely catch sight of the Omni God dissipating to reveal my old man, collapsed on the floor before I collapse myself, blood still leaking out of me in a warm, wet gush.

Well… I beat him.

"My Lord!"

"My Lady!"

Staniv sprints to my side and eases me gently into his arms. I pant heavily in pain. Oh gawd. I think he broke my ribs. That bastard. I'm gonna kill him.

"My Lady," he says breathlessly as he engages my Master Restore. Normally, I'd be extremely pissed because he's touching MY Materia. But this is probably the one allowable exception. "You won, my Lady."

"I know, idiot," I mumble groggily, the loss of blood starting to make me dizzy. "Bastard had it comin'." My eyes close. But he's probably smiling. Staniv was never a very strong leader. He never had a very strong will, I guess. But I know he thinks my old man is annoying in his old age, if nothing else. He'd just never say it out loud.

I feel myself being lifted from the floor before I drift away into sleep. Damn… blood loss…

What is probably several hours later, I wake up to darkness. Slowly I sit up, testing myself. No pain, it seems. I run a hand across the path of the sword wound. It's gone. Oh Master Restore. How I adore you and your seductive emerald glow…

"My Lady?"

………

"What time is it, Staniv?"

"Three in the morning."

"Why are you here, then?"

"To look after you."

"You know that the wound is gone, right?"

"Yes, but—…"

"So you're basically just creepily staring at me while I'm asleep for no other reason than to admire my sexylicious body. Also, it's not exactly light in here. If I started randomly gushing blood, you probably wouldn't even notice. Besides that, why do you thi—"

His fingers close on my upper arm and my heart jumps into my throat.

"Lady Kisaragi," he says heatedly, different from the weak-willed Staniv I know. "Are you aware of how long you have been gone from Wutai? Years. And you can't say that because you fell from your father's good graces, you fell from the regard of others as well."

I stare straight ahead in the darkness. "Staniv, I'm sorry if you missed me. But I had to leave."

He continues on anyway, his hand still grasping my arm. This is really uncomfortable somehow…

"When you returned to town only a short time ago with Materia you had stolen, I saw you although you did not enter the Pagoda. Something felt strange inside of me, and Lady Kisaragi, I must tell you now. I have very strong feelings for you… my Lady."

Okay, scratch that. This is beyond uncomfortable. This is MAD AWKWARD.

"Er…" I try to laugh, but it comes out as a weird, nervous hiccup. "Strong feelings, huh? I thought you all might not like me a whole lot, but I never knew that you HATED me, man. Sorry." Yeah, I know that's probably not what he meant by "strong feelings". But I don't know what to say… Obviously, I don't have any feelings at all for the guy… Well, maybe I feel sorta bad for him… now.

"You misunderstand, my Lady. You see, I… I have fallen in love with you."

I twitch unconsciously at hearing him say the words. "Staniv, this is silly.. You're my mentor, my teacher, you're ten whole years older than I am, and…" Suddenly, an image of a very sexy Vincent Valentine pops into my mind's eye. A very sexy Vincent Valentine who is also at least twice Staniv's age. I sigh.

"Well… you know…"

He sighs, too. "I know, my Lady. I did not hope that you would share my feelings or welcome them. However, I thought it important that you know, especially with the fall of Meteor impending. I am sorry to trouble you. It was very abrupt of me."

Ohhh, so this is his last minute confession so he has no regrets. Gross.

"Sorry."

"It's fine."

His fingers find mine and before I can protest, his lips brush against the back of my hand before he leaves.

Ugh.

I'd better get some sleep.

I thought that I'd want to stay here now that Godo's been defeated. But I really just want to go, at least for a little while.

Mind racing, I force myself into a fitful sleep.

_What are you fighting for now? Wutai is yours. Cloud and the others will stop Meteor. Why are you going back?_

_I don't know. I just have to. _

_Fate. Fulfillment. Love. This is your fate. Without fulfilling it, you would regret. What has there been to give your life meaning? There has been adventure, but although you have run so far away, you have gotten nowhere in all these years… And for the first time, you know what it is to have companions and what it is to work toward a cause greater than yourself alongside them._

_Vincent…_

My eyes open slowly, my head as clear as if I'd never fallen asleep. Morning light filters in through the paper shade over the window.

I dress quickly, thoughtlessly. Today is the day. Shorts, top, bracers, gloves, socks, shoes, headband. I reach out to pick up my Conformer when a streak of red catches my eye. I blink, hard. There's a second Summon Materia in one of the slots. Did Odin get Mastered? I blink again. A dragon rises from the depths of the red, then disappears again. Leviathan…?

"Yuffie."

I whirl around, frown already set on my face. Old man.

"You have reigned victorious over me in battle, and for that, you should be commended. The Leviathan Summon is now yours, and when you next pick up your weapon, you will also find yourself with the knowledge of the All Creation technique, handed down along with Leviathan for many generations." He takes a deep breath, seeming to concentrate very hard. "When you go… trying to stop Meteor, I just want you to know… Yuffie… we… we are proud of you here in Wutai. I am proud of you, my… daughter."

I stare at him, dumbstruck. No way… That old man just said that he…

"Uhh… er…" Coherent as ever, I am! "Thanks, Dad." My heart soars. I don't know why. I don't even like Godo, but somehow, I don't want to go now. A tear drips off the end of my nose. Oh, damn it…

Somehow, some way, I end up buried in my Dad's arms, sobbing, my arms clinging to him so hard that he would probably die had he not been the stubborn, tough guy he always is. He strokes the back of my head gently and I sniff, feeling all of six years old again.

"You can do this, Yuffie," he says gruffly, still stroking my head. "We all believe in you. You'll come back, with the Materia!" I choke out a laugh, finally releasing him from my death grip.

"Yeah, definitely with the Materia!"

He hands me his fancy silk handkerchief and I blow my nose into it with an impressively loud 'HONNNNK'. He just smiles.

Not a half hour later, I find myself on the Highwind, oddly calm despite the fact that we're heading toward the toughest fight of our lives.

"Yuffie."

"Hey Vinnie!" I grin brightly. Vincent just stares down at me, expressionless. If he actually could bring himself to say it, I swear he'd be holding out his hand demanding, "Gimme back my Materia, you little wench!"

"Okay, okay, I'll give you back the Materia…"

"You have been bleeding a lot."

I stare at him, eyes wide. I guess I did bleed a lot… though I wasn't awake for it, Godo did slash through a lot of flesh before I took him down. Guiltily, I think of Staniv. Wait. Guiltily? Oh gawd, why am I feeling sorry for that guy?

Vincent reaches out and touches the spot on my shoulder where Godo's blade entered.

"It was repaired well."

I smile sadly. "Yeah," I mumble, remembering Staniv's panic as he used the Restore on my Conformer to close my wound. "Godo cut me with his saber, and after I won, Staniv healed me."

"Congratulations for your victory."

"Thanks."

I return the Materia to him wordlessly. Oh, the pain. Don't worry, my lovely little balls of magic. You shall be back in Mommy's arms soon!

Spike pokes his head toward us. "We'll be there in an hour," he says tiredly. Though I can tell that he's exhausted, his eyes seem to burn differently than before. He's determined, found his reasons to not only fight but also to stay alive. I smile genuinely.

"We'll be ready."

"Thanks, Yuffie." He smiles back.

Cloud Strife is really a good guy.

"Vincent…" I murmur, eyes cast down to my hands, folded in my lap. "Why are you fighting? Is it really because Sephiroth is Lucrecia's son?"

He seems to consider me for a moment before replying, "It is."

"That's all?" I question, looking up to meet his eyes. "Just because you…"

"I failed her. My own immaturity repulses me when I remember that I had put her through so much pain. All she had wanted in her final moments was her son. She loved Sephiroth even though he was what he was. Even after her death… I continued to fail her. Sephiroth grew up, suffered. Had I loved Lucrecia like I had claimed, I would have loved Sephiroth as well, and protected him. But I hated him. He was the manifestation of my nightmare."

"You say you failed her, but if you realize you didn't love her, then why does it hurt you so much, Vincent? We talked about this once before… You said that even though you didn't love her, you cared about her still, and felt responsible for protecting her, at least as her bodyguard. But… why is it really so much of a burden? What is it?" If he didn't love her, then why does he still feel so guilty? I feel like there's a part of the story missing here.

Vincent takes a deep breath. I wait. He looks at me painfully.

"My father's name was Dr. Grimoire Valentine. He was an expert in the study of Planet Life and an accomplished biochemist. When I was 19, he took on an intern, a prodigal young scientist interested in one of my father's recent studies. The intern's name was Lucrecia Crescent. I knew my father had a student. However, I never met her until after my father's death, only a couple years after Lucrecia's internship with him ended. I had no way of knowing that she was the one."

"That's a weird coincidence, but what does it have to do with Sephiroth?"

"Lucrecia and my father made a discovery in their time together. I do not know the details of what they were working on, but something in their experimentation went wrong. To save Lucrecia, my father was killed."

My eyes widen. "That's horrible, Vincent. If I were Lucrecia, I would feel so guilty, especially to you."

"She did. But she kept her involvement with my father a secret. For a long time, I did not know that she had ever known my father at all. But after the incident with Hojo and me, Lucrecia spent her final days fighting to save me. Though I have only a little recollection of the time I spent in her lab, I know she talked to me more than she ever had when I was well. She told me everything, about my father, about how he'd died… But her guilt was unnecessary. I held no bitterness toward her. After her death, all I could think of was how much I hated Hojo, hated Sephiroth… Now, I hate myself. I hate that I hated Sephiroth. Lucrecia participated in my father's death and saved me as a product of her guilt. I could not even bring myself to save her son, though I know I helped to bring about Lucrecia's death. Now I will destroy Sephiroth because my guilt drives me to. Guilt that I did not save her son when I could not save her. What remains of Sephiroth is bitterness and pain. I know Lucrecia would not want to see him as he is now—so marred by her decisions and the past that he has grown corrupted. Now the only thing I can do is erase the outcome of her poor decisions and alleviate her remaining guilt."

"I'm sorry, Vincent." I swallow loudly and look away from his eyes. "I'm so sorry. It just seems that in the end, you are the one who will feel guilty and unhappy. What then, Vincent? Whose fault is that? Your story is just a huge tangled net of self blame. But when things happen that you can't control, whose fault is it then? And who is left to look out for your happiness? I think..." I reach out and place my hand on top of his long pale fingers. "I think that claiming some happiness for yourself is alright, too. Then people won't worry about you, and you won't have to feel guilty for burdening others. I know that if I were unhappy for some reason, people would wonder why. I would feel bad for burdening them with my problems. I'd feel sucky for feeling sucky! And it might be no one's fault at all. But it's my fault if I refused happiness for myself." I smile as Vincent stares down at me in disbelief. "I think that I would be happier if you were happier, too, Vinnie. So after we go down and kick Sephiroth's ass and stop Meteor, we're gonna have Cid drop us off in Wutai so that we can get completely plastered on my Dad's dime at the Turtle's Paradise. Then, we're gonna go to Costa Del Sol and soak in some rays and just lay around like an old retired couple. Sound good to you?"

He just stares at me for a second. I stare back, unblinking.

"Perhaps you are right, Yuffie." My eyebrows shoot up as I feel his hand shift under mine, and his fingers curl around my fingers gently. My face melts into what I hope is not a goofy grin.

"Of course I'm right, Vinnie. I'm the Materia Hunter Yuffie. And I am God."

* * *

One last chapter, then the epilogue. Thank you for staying with me.


End file.
